XYZ Angel
by Roxas Itsuka
Summary: What if Yuzu hadn't gone to Sora to learn Fusion Summon to defeat Masumi? What if she had chosen to learn XYZ Summon instead? And from a certain individual who looks like her best friend. AU where Yuzu chooses to learn XYZ Summon from Yuto. YuzuxYuto
1. Asking for help

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh Arc V**

It was a normal day in Maiami City, at least by Yuzu's standards. The weekend had arrived yet Yuzu wasn't particularly thrilled for it. She was still reeling from this weeks events.

First, Sawatari threatened Yuya behind their backs and Yuzu confronted him, only to be saved by a boy who looked a lot like her best friend, only he could XYZ Summon.

However, due to that Sawatari was injured (allegedly) and LDS took action by threatening to press charges, unless they won a best out of three duels, which eventually resulted in a tie breaker which they barely won.

Yuzu's confidence had been withered during the conflict after being crushed after her first turn by the Fusion user Masumi Koutsu. As much as she wanted to undo it, there was no way to.

There was also the issue of Yuya's participation in the Junior Youth Maiami Championship. He had twenty-six wins and twenty losses, and in order to qualify he had to have competed in at least fifty matches with a 60% win ratio. If he wanted to enter he would need to win at least four matches. Yuya considered duelling her, Ayu, Futoshi, and Tatsuya but they each shot him down due to age difference and in Yuzu's case because she was qualified and they'd duelled many times before, so there was really no point.

"How about getting Gongenzaka to help you?" Yuzu suggested. "It's thanks to the Gongenzaka Dojo that you've gotten most of your matches this past year, right?"

It was true. Most of Yuya's matches that he'd racked up this year had come from their childhood friends Dojo. Yuzu had even taken part in a few matches this year which she was grateful towards. It definitely helped with her qualification.

"I'm thankful for that," Yuya admitted bowing his head. "He always helped me whenever I needed it. Even the fact that I'm aiming to become a pro now is thanks to Gongenzaka. But that's exactly why I don't want to rely on him anymore! Instead I have to become who Gongenzaka can rely on! With my own strength!"

The others stared at him in awe at how sincere and inspiring his speech was. Yuya had the strangest ability to surprise people when they least expected it. In particular, his words resonated with Yuzu.

"With you own," she repeated. "You're right!"

Yuzu immediately turned and started running, much to her friend's confusion.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Yuya called out.

"Don't worry about it! I just thought that I want to get stronger too!" Yuzu shouted back as she continued running.

Her friends called after her and asked about Duel School but she just told them to tell her father that she won't be showing up today.

'_Yuya is trying to change. Now I know I can't stay like this!'_ Yuzu thought determined. _'I have to get stronger! Strong enough to be able to protect You Show Duel School! And there's only one way to do that! I have to learn other summoning methods!'_

If she was going to stand any chance against duellists like Masumi in the future she couldn't only use tribute summon. She needed to learn something new like Fusion or Synchro. Even Ritual would be a good idea, as long as it was something outside her normal duel style. And there was one person who could help her with such a thing.

'_Sora's my best bet. If he could teach me fusion summon, then maybe I'll stand a chance against Masumi,'_ Yuzu thought. _'Afterall, who better to take down a fusion user than another fusion user. Sora would probably know the best way to counter.'_ Yuzu stopped running as she suddenly realized something. _'Wait hold on! If Sora knows how to deal with a fusion user, wouldn't Masumi be the same?'_

Yuzu stood to the side of the street and started to consider her next course of action. Sora was sure to know everything about fusion summoning, but Masumi would know the same. The girl had been studying at LDS, the top duelling school, and was well versed in the method, which meant she probably knew how to counter it.

'_Uh, what do I do? I need to get stronger in time for the championship, in order to protect the school. Maybe I could learn one of the other types. Ritual wouldn't be too hard but there's the matter of getting the right cards for it,'_ Yuzu pondered.

There weren't that many practitioners of Ritual nowadays. Since the other summoning methods had arrived it had become less and less common. It was still used, Yuzu knew that, she'd even seen a pro or two use it on tv. However, it wasn't as popular as the other summoning methods.

That left her with only one choice.

'_I should learn Synchro or XYZ,'_ Yuzu realized as she leaned back against the wall. _'But who could teach me? The only ones who are them attend LDS, and I seriously doubt any of them will teach me. Why would they? I'm not a student.'_

Yuzu scowled at the unfairness of the situation. LDS taught everything. Why? Why couldn't there be a single duellist who learned those methods outside of the institute?

'_Ugh, I've never seen anyone aside from Sora who could,'_ a memory of a boy with a face similar to her best friends flashed through her mind. Yuzu froze instantly. _'Wait, hold on a second. That guy from before. He could.'_ The one who saved her from Sawatari could XYZ summon. _'Wait, then, maybe if I. Hold on a minute! This is the same guy who caused a lot of trouble for the school before, and me. Why would he help me? Then again, he did step in to protect me, though I'm not really sure why.'_

Yuzu carefully pondered over her choice. This was a risky move she was taking. That boy who looked like Yuya was dangerous, she could still remember how he generated real damage despite it not being an action field. At the same time, she didn't think he was a bad person, he did try to protect her after all. However, even if she did ask him, there was the issue of finding him. Last time they had met it was purely by chance. It wasn't like he would be at the same place, or would he? She wasn't sure, but she could find out.

That's when a thought struck her.

'_Just before he defeated Sawatari, he held up an LDS badge and asked about Academia and their connection to LDS, but Sawatari didn't know anything,'_ Yuzu remembered. _'Maybe he's still investigating LDS. Then, perhaps he's somewhere near the main building. It's a long shot but it's worth a try.'_

Yuzu made up her mind and started walking towards the main building.

'_This a bad idea. What if he doesn't want to help me?'_ Yuzu hesitated. The memory of how easily she was defeated by Masumi haunted her again. She started running now. _'NO! I made a decision to get stronger to protect my friends and family and that's what I'm going to do. I won't hesitate. I can't hesitate. I will become stronger!'_

**LDS Main Building**

Yuzu arrived at the main building to see it was more guarded than usual. Security was only allowing certain members inside, but not before checking them and confirming their identities.

From Shingo's earlier visit to her and Yuya, she learned that an LDS teacher had been attacked by an XYZ user. Yuzu briefly considered that it was the boy from before but remembered he had only acted out of defence. She couldn't understand why, but he didn't seem like the type to go around needlessly attacking people. As she glanced around at the people present, she noticed Sora was there staring at the building while licking a lollipop. It appeared as though he was trying to find some way in.

"Dangit, I really want to fight him," Sora muttered.

Yuzu instantly knew who he was talking about.

'_Why that little, so this is why he hasn't been showing up to Duel School!'_ Yuzu fumed. _'He wants to duel with Reiji Akaba. It's just like with Yuya, when someone or something catches his interest he immediately pursues them!'_ Though Yuzu did understand why he was interested. That man busted out all the summoning methods in his duel with Yuya, including Pendulum. _'I get why you want to duel him but you won't be able to. He's the President of LDS! He's not someone you can just get close to that easily.'_

Yuzu briefly pondered walking up to and speaking with Sora but decided against it. The blue haired fusion user wasn't the reason she was here. Yuzu kept to the side and walked on like she hadn't seen Sora it would look suspicious that way.

If Sora noticed her he hadn't said anything, he just kept looking at the building.

Yuzu walked normally while looking around as if she was just taking in scenery.

'_If he was going to spy on LDS, he would likely do it from a location no one else could see him from, like a gap in the buildings,'_ Yuzu thought.

She had already inspected the gaps from the side she came. There was no one there. As she walked, she examined the gaps, closely and carefully. At first, she didn't see anything. Then, from the corner of her eye, she noticed someone leaning back against the wall of the alley between two buildings. He was dressed in black and staring out at the LDS building and the people entering it. However, it didn't look like he had noticed Yuzu, yet.

'_It's him,'_ Yuzu thought. _'He really was here. Okay, keep calm. Just keep walking like natural.'_

Yuzu kept walking normally until she came to the end and turned, now heading in his direction. She walked at the pace other people were walking to avoid alerting him to her presence. It worked for the most part as Yuzu was merely a few steps away from him. Then, without warning, he turned and made eye contact with her.

Yuzu froze. Yuto froze. Both their eyes were locked onto each other and didn't seem to be leaving anytime soon.

'_Dammit! He noticed me!'_ Yuzu inwardly cursed.

'_Her! What is she doing here?'_ Yuto thought.

For several seconds, neither of them moved.

Yuto, unsure of what to do and acting on instinct, turned and started running down the alleyway. Of course, as soon as she saw this, Yuzu was in hot pursuit. Yuto was fast, but so was Yuzu. She had the experience of action duels to thank for that.

'_Why is she following me? What does she want?'_ Yuto pondered as he continued running. He was impressed by her speed. _'She's fast, I'll give her that. But it'll take more than that to catch me!'_

Running around a corner Yuto used the balcony and walls to climb up the building. When Yuzu rounded the corner, she saw he had vanished. However, she was smart enough to know that wasn't possible (barring that one time with her bracelet), so she looked up and saw him standing on the roof staring down at her.

Yuzu scowled.

"WILL YOU STOP RUNNING ALREADY!" she shouted. "I JUST WANT TO TALK!"

Yuto furrowed his eyebrows. _'Talk! What for?'_ Though he had a pretty good idea why. This was about his interference in her duel, would-be duel he should say. He'd only interfered because he thought she was Ruri, they had the same face after all. However, there were a few things that stood out. For starters she hadn't recognised him, even though they had known each other for years. Two, she was surprised he could XYZ Summon; why would Ruri be surprised when she could do it herself? Three, while he hadn't noticed it at first, this girl possessed dark pink hair held up in pigtails and blue eyes, whereas Ruri had long purple hair and pink eyes. With these facts it was evident that this girl was not Ruri, despite their striking resemblance.

Yuzu glared at him from below. It was obvious he wasn't coming down anytime soon.

'_So you want to play it that way huh! Fine, if you won't come down then I'll go up!'_ Yuzu decided.

Being a student of a place like You Show, Yuzu was well adept in moving and jumping around action fields. The real world was no different.

Bending her legs, Yuzu leaped up and grabbed a hold of one of the balcony railings where she quickly pulled herself and continued onto the next one.

Yuto was stunned at what he was seeing. This girl, whatever her name was, was fast and quite athletic to be able to move like that. Maybe she did gymnastics or something. Or maybe she had been out fighting on a battlefield of her own.

'_No, don't let it be that,'_ Yuto silently pleaded.

He had experienced first-hand just how hellish a battlefield could be, and it would be a cold day in hell before he ever wished that life on someone, even if he didn't that like that person.

Yuzu had just started climbing up the ladder for the final balcony. Yuto realized he she should have started running and turned when he heard a loud 'creaking' noise. Yuzu heard it as well, causing her to freeze. Before anyone could react, the bolts from the ladder became undone and it fell backwards.

Yuzu let out a scream as she plunged to the ground. Yuto in the heat of the moment, dived after her.

'_If she falls that way she'll end up with more than just a couple of scrapes and bruises,'_ he thought.

Yuzu closed her eyes and braced for impact. She was surprised when it never came. Opening her eyes, she noticed that the boy from before was holding tightly onto her arm as he hung from the balcony. Shock was evident in both your eyes.

"Are you alright?" Yuto asked concerned. "Can you pull yourself up?"

Instead of answering, Yuzu simply nodded. She then used her free hand to climb back onto the balcony with the boy. Both were panting heavily.

"That was close," Yuto exclaimed before facing Yuzu. "You're a persistent one you know that?!"

Yuzu didn't know whether to take that as an insult or compliment but accepted it all the same.

"And you're an evasive one," Yuzu responded. "Sorry if I startled you but I needed to talk."

Yuto raised an eyebrow. "Is this about me duelling that guy for you? If it is then I'm"

"No," Yuzu quickly interrupted. "I'll admit that's one thing I was going to bring up, but it's not the main reason I'm here." Yuzu faced Yuto with a serious look on her face. "I need your help."

Now Yuto was definitely surprised. He thought she was angry at him, however, that clearly wasn't the case.

"Would it be alright if we talked somewhere more secluded?" Yuzu requested.

Yuto thought about it briefly. "Sure. You lead."

He wasn't exactly sure why he had agreed to speak with her but it couldn't hurt. Besides, he was curious as to why she looked so much like Ruri.

Without further words, the pair climbed down and set off.

**The Warehouse**

Yuzu lead Yuto to the warehouse where they first met. Yuto was surprised that she'd chosen this place to speak but didn't question it. Once they were inside, Yuzu shut the door and faced Yuto.

"Okay, so you brought me here. What exactly did you want to talk about?" Yuto enquired.

Yuto's expression was calm and collected, however, that was instantly changed to shock and surprise when Yuzu did this.

Walking up to him she placed her hands together and bowed. "Please! Teach me how to use XYZ Summon!"

**Hi there. Well, what did you think of that? I've had this story idea for a long time now and I wanted to get it out. Yuzu and Yuto were two of my favourite characters in the anime and I hate how they were treated. Yuzu was turned into a damsel in distress and Yuto disappeared into Yuya.**

**Also, when watching the anime, I wished Yuzu had learned other summoning methods. She was Ray's Pendulum Counterpart so why didn't she use Pendulum Summon? When she went to the Synchro Dimension I though she was gonna learn Synchro Summon but it never happened. That's why in this fic she'll be using XYZ Summon and have quite a few monsters.**

**I will be doing Yuzu x Yuto for this fic as I have always loved the pairing and liked the dynamic between them. That said, Yuzu's plot will be different from the canon in which she is more involved with Shun and Yuto's side. Watching the anime I wish she and Shun had had more interaction with each other, especially after episode 21. Yuzu looked like Ruri so why wouldn't he want to talk with her?**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this. Please review!**


	2. A decision to teach

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh Arc V**

"Please! Teach me how to use XYZ Summon!"

Yuto stared at her, wide eyed. He was wondering if he'd heard her correctly, or if he'd just imagined it. He was somewhat sleep deprived from the last couple of weeks so it wasn't impossible. Even in his hometown he hadn't slept much, at least not since the invasion started.

Yuzu looked up at him with hopeful eyes. "Can you?"

Yuto blinked still confused. "What?" It was the only thing he could say at the moment since he wasn't sure what was going on.

"Can you teach me XYZ Summon?" Yuzu repeated.

This time Yuto knew he hadn't misheard it.

'_Crap she's serious about this!'_ he realized. "Um, well." Yuzu's expression dropped, causing Yuto to feel a bit guilty. "Why do you want to learn it? And why ask me?"

"I want to get stronger! I'm not strong enough as I am right now!" Yuzu declared with her face getting closer to Yuto's at each sentence.

Yuto understood wanting to get stronger. When his homeland had been invaded he was forced to step up and get stronger or else he'd end up dead, or as many people called it, carded.

"Okay, I understand," Yuto admitted. "That doesn't explain why you want me to teach you."

Yuzu stared at the ground. She figured he wouldn't agree right off the bat. If she wanted him to teach her she would have to be completely honest. She made the decision to become stronger, and she was going to stick with it.

"Before I say why, will you promise to wait until I'm finished talking before saying anything?" Yuzu requested.

Yuto relied with a simple nod. And so, taking a deep breath, Yuzu began her explanation.

"I lost a duel, to someone from LDS." Yuto's eyes narrowed. Losing a duel was quite normal and could happen to anyone. "It wasn't your typical duel. It was a best two out of three match between my school and LDS. If LDS won, they would get the school and Yuya would become a student of LDS, if we won, they would leave and drop all charges against Yuya."

'_Charges?! Just what did this guy do?'_ Yuto wondered.

"Yuya won the first match, I lost after my first turn in the second, and Gongenzaka tied in third. As a tie breaker, Yuya duelled against Reiji Akaba, President of LDS, though we didn't know it at the time." Yuto's eyes widened. Reiji Akaba! He was the Professor's son, the one he and Shun came here to capture and use as a hostage. "It was unbelievable. That man, he could use all the summoning methods: Fusion, Synchro, XYZ, and shockingly Pendulum."

'_ALL SUMMONING METHODS!'_ Yuto thought shocked. He'd seen different people use one summoning method but not all of them. _'This man, he sounds like a formidable opponent. I'd better warn Shun to be extra careful. Although, what is Pendulum Summon? I thought this world only focused on the three along with Tribute Summoning.'_

"We almost lost everything, but then, he received an urgent call and walked out on the match giving us the win," Yuzu finished explaining. "It was our victory, but it was a hollow one. We barely managed to protect the school. That's why I want to get stronger, so I can protect what I love without worry."

'_Protecting what you love huh! Not like I can't relate,'_ Yuto silently admitted.

"As for why I would like you to teach me, well, I should be honest and say you weren't the first person I thought of going to," Yuzu admitted much to Yuto's surprise. "You're the first person I've come to but not the first person I thought of. The first person I thought of was a friend of mine. I thought it takes a Fusion user to beat a Fusion user."

"You lost to someone who uses Fusion!" Yuto interrupted with a harsh tone.

Yuzu was a little surprised by his sudden change but nodded in confirmation.

"Yes that's right. I thought maybe he could teach me Fusion Summon and help me counter her, but then I realized that Masumi would know how to counter someone like that. Only LDS teaches the three summoning methods, and barring that friend of mine, which is why I came to ask you to teach me," Yuzu explained. She held her hands up with her fists clenched. "I know we only recently met but please, teach me XYZ Summoning!"

Yuto could see nothing but raw determination in her eyes. She was committed to doing this, of that he was certain.

'_What should I do?'_ he pondered. _'I can't abandon my mission. Too many are depending on me, not to mention Shun would never forgive me. On the other hand, I'd rather she didn't learn Fusion. With the suffering that card had wrought it wouldn't suit her.'_ Yuto examined her face. She looked so much like Ruri, who'd gone missing. Images of his homeland being destroyed filled his mind. From what he and Shun learned their dimension, the XYZ Dimension, was only the first of the Academia's assimilation, with Synchro and Standard following. _'These duellists, these people, they're much like we were when we were attacked. In which case they won't stand chance the Invasion begins.'_ He continued staring at Yuzu's face. _'At the very least, I want you to survive.'_

And with that he made his decision.

"Very well, I'll teach you," he decided.

Yuzu's eyes widened. "Really, you'll really teach me?!"

Yuto nodded. "I will. Only because I want you to have your best chance." Yuzu was slightly curious about what he meant. "Also, know that I am a strict teacher and will expect you to take this seriously."

"I will," Yuzu promised.

Yuto had never really taught anyone anything before but he would try to take it seriously. That's he remembered something.

"I should mention now that I came here to do something so I won't always be there to help you," he pointed out. "That's why I think we should exchange contact information so we can decide when and where to meet up."

Yuzu nodded. "I understand. Well here's my," she started before suddenly freezing.

"What's wrong?" Yuto asked concerned.

"I just realized that I don't know your name," Yuzu admitted. "And I'm guessing you don't know mine."

Yuto's eyes widened slightly at the miniature revelation but quickly returned to a stoic expression.

"Well in that case, I'm Yuzu, Yuzu Hiragi," she introduced holding out her hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"Yuto," he responded shaking her hand. "Likewise."

'_I can't believe I'm doing this. Oh well, no backing out now,'_ Yuto thought. _'I wonder how Shun will react when he finds out.'_ At the thought of his comrade Yuto remembered how he reacted to Ruri's capture, and how he acted afterwards. _'Maybe I should keep this a secret for now. There's no telling what he would do if he found out there was a Ruri lookalike here.'_

"Okay, now that that's done here's my," Yuzu started before she was cut off by Yuto moving in a putting his hand over her mouth.

It was a miracle Yuzu hadn't whipped out her fan as a reflex. However, the serious expression on Yuto's face made her decide against it. His eyes weren't focused on her, they were focused on the doors behind her.

Yuto knew he was exaggerating slightly but, just know, he could have sworn he heard footsteps outside and they were getting closer. Talking with Yuzu hadn't made him forget his surroundings.

As the footsteps got louder, the sound of the door opening caused Yuto to react. Without warning, he grabbed Yuzu by the hip and leaped up with her to a floor that held some cargo. Even though she was surprised, Yuzu had enough sense to not yelp or scream. They hid in the shadow of a cargo box. When the door finally opened light shone in and revealed the someone who Yuzu hadn't planned to encounter so soon.

'_Masumi Koutsu!'_ Yuzu realized. _'What's she doing here?'_

Masumi walked in and quickly scanned the room.

"This is the site of the first incident where Sawatari was attacked," she murmured softly.

If there were any clues as to who attacked Marco, this where she would find it.

Yuto eyed her suspiciously. He didn't know whether to consider her an enemy or not but he wouldn't hesitate if she made herself out to be one. One thing that caught his attention was what she said.

'_First Incident?'_ Yuto pondered.

He knew she was talking about his duel with Sawatari but why did she say first? He hadn't attacked anyone since that time, and in reality, he only stepped in to protect Yuzu who he thought was Ruri at the time. He hadn't duelled anyone since then. That meant someone else was behind it this time. And, while he hoped he was wrong, he had a very good idea of who it was.

'_Please be wrong! Please don't be an idiot and act rashly!'_ Yuto silently begged.

Masumi started to look around and Yuto got out his duel disk. He didn't want to fight, he really didn't, but he would if he had to. Yuzu saw what he had out and placed her hand on his duel disk to stop him.

'_Don't duel her, not here, please,'_ Yuzu mouthed to him.

Yuto contemplated her words for a moment before relenting. She was right. Duelling here and now would only cause more problems, especially since it would lead back to Yuzu. And that would complicate him teaching her XYZ.

"I'm going to lead her away," he whispered softly to Yuzu. "Meet me back here in three hours. And don't worry! I won't duel her, not if I can avoid it!"

Yuzu deciding to trust him, nodded and moved back to remain hidden. That's when Yuto made his move. He jumped out in front of Masumi, startling the girl and forcing her to take a few steps back.

'_What the hell! Who is?'_ she thought before realizing. _'I see. So that's it.'_

"You! So you're the one who attacked Sawatari!" Masumi snapped. "Then, the recent incident, was that also you?"

'_How deductive of you,'_ Yuto quietly complimented. _'However, I haven't attacked anyone!'_

There was a tense standoff between them as both stared into each other's eyes. This was broken when Yuto jumped onto a cargo box and then another floor. Masumi headed in his direction, climbing up right after him. Unfortunately for her, Yuto planned for this so he could make a beeline for the exit. Diving through the gap, Yuto turned right and started running as fast as he could. Masumi was hot in pursuit as she went through the same space.

'_I won't let you get away! I'll capture you and find out exactly what you did to Professor Marco!'_ Masumi declared as she ran after the alleged culprit.

Yuzu stood there for what could have been several minutes until she was sure Masumi was far enough away. She then exited the warehouse while closing the door behind her.

"What was Masumi doing here?" Yuzu muttered. "She was looking for the one who attacked Sawatari, why? Are they close or something? No that can't be it. She didn't seem that concerned for him during the match. She did say this was the site of the." Yuzu gasped as she remembered the final match between LDS and You Show. When it was announced that a teacher had been attacked. But that wasn't all, it was how Masumi reacted. "That professor, could he have been the one who taught her fusion summon?"

It seemed like the most logical scenario. Masumi was worried about her teacher and came to the first site looking for answers.

"Sawatari said he was attacked by an XYZ user but, that couldn't be Yuto, at least I hope not," Yuzu whispered.

She really didn't want it to be her new teacher. It was true he attacked Sawatari but that was only to protect her.

"Since I don't know for certain, I won't look into it," she decided. "I've got too much going on right now."

She took out her duel disk and saw her dad had called her several times. It annoyed her to no end. She told the others to tell him she wasn't showing up today, then again he probably would have called no matter what anyone said.

"YUZU!" a familiar voice called out.

Yuzu turned and saw Yuya running towards her.

'_Oh great, dad must have gotten worried and sent Yuya to look for me,_' Yuzu realized. _'Oh well, doesn't matter. I'll just have to bend the truth a little to get them both off my back. the main issue is meeting back here in a few hours' time. Because I am going to get stronger! I'm going to learn XYZ Summon!'_

**The Warehouse three hours later**

Yuzu arrived at the warehouse exactly on time. She'd manage to pass Yuya's attempts at finding out what she was doing and instead got him talk about his next four duels arranged by Nico Smiley. Yuzu was surprised, and a little suspicious, when she discovered he wanted to be Yuya's manager. She guessed it was to make more money like he was doing with Strong Ishijima, however, Yuya surprised her again by telling her that Ishijima had resigned as champion and had gone overseas to train. She knew it was tough losing because he was the champion, but it was just one loss. It was hardly worth getting that upset about.

Her father had been worried about her but Yuzu managed to trick him as well. Yuzu hated lying to him, to all of them, but it was necessary.

Glancing around, she didn't see any sign of her teacher. Did he not manage to escape Masumi?

'_Maybe he's just running late,'_ Yuzu thought.

"You came," Yuto's voice called out.

Yuzu jumped startled and quickly looked around to find him on one of the cargos. Yuto somersaulted down right in front of Yuzu who quickly composed herself.

"If I recall correctly, you were the one who said to meet back here in three hours," Yuzu pointed.

"True, but I wasn't sure if you would actually come after what happened," Yuto admitted.

"I don't care about that," Yuzu told him. "I said I was going to commit myself to this and I am. Speaking, of which, what happened to Masumi?"

Yuto shrugged. "I managed to lose her. Surprisingly, it wasn't easy. That girl was fast, more than I gave her credit for, but I eventually lost her in the city." Yuzu wasn't surprised. Since Masumi attended LDS she would have to be good at Action Duels. "Who was she anyway? You seemed to know her."

Yuzu shifted slightly uncomfortably. She hoped he wouldn't react badly.

"She's the girl I lost to, the one from LDS," Yuzu explained. "The one I want to beat."

"The one who uses Fusion!" Yuto said in a soft harsh tone.

Yuzu flinched at the way he said it. That was the second time he reacted to hearing Fusion, that couldn't have been a coincidence. Did Yuto have some sort of grudge against people who used the Summoning method? Whatever the reason Yuzu chose to leave it for another day.

"Okay, let's get started," Yuto announced. "First off, do you know how XYZ Summoning works?"

Yuzu thought about it for a moment. "You need two monsters of the same level to summon an XYZ monster. Those monsters become something called overlay units that allow them to use their special abilities. Also, I think XYZ monsters have ranks instead of levels."

Yuto nodded. "You've got a basic idea. The important thing is to have all the monsters you need as materials out on the field, and it isn't always two, sometimes it's more. There's also a special way to summon higher ranked monsters without overlaying."

Yuzu nodded in understanding. She figured there was more to it than she first thought.

"Now, I'll need to get a look at your deck to see if it's suited for XYZ summoning, and get an idea of your skills," Yuto informed her.

Yuzu's eyes widened. "With a duel?"

Yuyo nodded. "Don't worry about the roof coming off though. Last time I attacked full force, this time I'll restrain myself."

Yuzu was slightly nervous but swallowed it and nodded with a determined look.

Yuzu and Yuto stood across from each other and activated their duel disks.

'_And so it begins,'_ Yuzu thought.

'_Here we go! Show me what you got Yuzu!'_ Yuto declared.

**Yuzu LP: 4000 Hand: 5**

**Yuto LP: 4000 Hand: 5**

"DUEL!" they yelled.

**Hi there. Well, what did you think of that? Yuto picked up on Masumi approaching in this version because this time he wasn't focused on Yuzu and Sora's conversation about Yuzu learning Fusion. Speaking of which, Yuzu learning Fusion is ample reason for Yuto to teach her.**

**A duel was originally going to take place in this chapter but since I need to study I decided to post this now. Next chapter will feature Yuzu facing off against Yuto for the first (and not the last) time.**

**I'm also going to be revising this story a bit. I'd like to turn it into a long story with plotlines different to the anime. It will still follow along the timeline of the anime but many things will be changed such as characters introduced and events that occur.**

**Hope you enjoyed this. Please review.**


	3. Yuzu vs Yuto

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh Arc V**

**Yuzu LP: 4000 Hand: 5**

**Yuto LP: 4000 Hand: 5**

"Ladies first!" Yuzu declared. "From my hand I summon Opera the Melodious Diva (_Light/Level 4/Fairy/2300 ATK/1000 DEF_)."

A fairy with pink hair stretched out in three directions, a purple and blue dress with musical notes surrounding it appeared singing softly.

"Next I activate the Continuous Spell Fortissimo! Once per turn, I can increase the attack of one Melodious monster on the field by 600 until my next standby phase. And since there's only one option I target Opera."

Light shone from the spell as Opera's dress became illuminated, increasing her power. Opera (ATK2300-2900).

"Opera can't attack on the turn she's summoned, but since it's the first of the duel, it works perfectly for me," Yuzu informed him. "With that, I end my turn."

'_Summoning a monster that can't attack first, then powering up to nearly 3000,'_ Yuto silently observed. _'That's a clever move. However, it's I can't counter. I still haven't seen her deck's true strength yet.'_

Yuto was certain he could win. However, Yuzu had one advantage over him, and that was knowing his deck and ace while he knew nothing about hers.

"My turn! I draw!" Yuto shouted. "I summon Phantom Knights: Ragged Gloves (_Dark/Level 3/Warrior/1000 ATK/500 DEF_) in attack position." An armoured soldier with big gloves and no legs, emitting blue and red fire from its body appeared. "When I have a Phantom Knights monster on the field I can special summon Phantom Knights: Silent Boots (_Dark/Level 3/Warrior/200 ATK/1200 DEF_)."

A blue being covered in brown clothing and wearing brown boots appeared on the field.

Yuzu was immediately concerned because of the levels the monsters possessed.

'_Two level 3's, does that mean he's going to,'_ Yuzu thought worried.

Yuto knew exactly what she was thinking and wasted no time in acting.

"I overlay level 3 Ragged Gloves and Silent Boots! Souls of warriors fallen on the battlefield, revive now and become light to render the darkness! XYZ Summon! Appear before us! Rank 3, Phantom Knights: Break Sword (_Dark/Rank 3/Warrior/XYZ/2000 ATK/1000 DEF_)!" he chanted.

An armoured knight with blue flames coming out of the top riding on an armoured horse while carrying a long blade that was broken just at the top. The overlay units swirled around it in opposite directions.

'_An XYZ monster right on his first turn! I guess I shouldn't be surprised,'_ Yuzu thought. _'At least it wasn't the one from last time. Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon. That card enabled him to defeat Sawatari like he was nothing.'_

"Now, Ragged Gloves effect activates, when it's used as an XYZ, my monster gains 1000ATK until the end phase," Yuto announced.

Break Sword (ATK2000-3000).

Yuzu paled slightly as it was now stronger than her monster. Unfortunately for her, it was about to get much worse.

"I set three cards and activate Break Swords effect. By detaching one overlay unit, I target one card I control and one card you control and destroy them both," Yuto explained. No sooner had he said it were Opera and one of his face downs destroyed, leaving Yuzu completely wide open. "Now then, go Break Sword! Direct attack!"

The warrior struck Yuzu across the chest with its sword.

**Yuzu LP: 1000 Hand: 3**

Despite the hit, Yuzu remained standing. While it may not have been Solid Vision she could still feel the attack, though it didn't seem as powerful as it did during the last duel. It seemed Yuto was holding up to his promise of holding back.

'_Dammit! This isn't good! The duel just started and already I'm down three quarters of LP!" _Yuzu thought frustrated._ 'I'll need a miracle next turn if I'm gonna turn this around.'_

"I end my turn!" Yuto declared. "Now, show me what you can do!"

Yuzu didn't need to be told twice.

"My turn! I draw! I activate Pot of Greed, letting me draw two more cards," Yuzu shouted as she drew from her deck. Looking at the cards in her hand, Yuzu couldn't help but smirk. "I activate the Continuous Spell Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen. With this, once per turn, I can special summon one Fairy type monster from my hand provided I have no other monsters on the field. And the level doesn't matter either." Yuto realized where she was heading with this. "Now, the concert begins! Enchanting melody that echoes throughout the heavens, awaken the sleeping virtuoso! Come forth! Level 8, Mozarta the Melodious Maestra (_Light/Level 8/Fairy/2600 ATK/2000 DEF_)!"

A blue fairy wearing a beautiful red dress with musical notes, with pianos for wings and holding a composer's stick appeared on the field.

'_Level 8 without tributing, impressive. Does her deck revolve around summoning monsters with high attack points and powering them up? It definitely a Fairy type focused deck, like Sayaka's,'_ Yuto wondered.

"I'm done! Mozarta's effect activates! Once per turn, I can special summon one level 4 or lower Melodious monster from my hand! I special summon Aria the Melodious Diva (_Light/Level 4/Fairy/1600 ATK/1200 DEF_) in attack mode!" A pink fairy with purple hair and a harp on her back, dressed in pink and dark red clothing, and musical notes appearing on her legs appeared. "Next I summon Cannon the Melodious Diva (_Light/Level 4/Fairy/1400 ATK/2000 DEF_)!" This time it was blue fairy wearing a gold mask and guards around her knees, a purple top followed by a black and blue skirt appeared. "Now, I activate Fortissimo and power up Mozarta (2600-3200)!"

It didn't take a genius to figure out what was coming next.

"Battle Phase! Mozarta attack Break Sword! Graceful Wave!" Yuzu shouted.

Mozarta summoned a large sonic burst and fired it at Break Sword, destroying it instantly.

**Yuto LP: 2800 Hand: 1**

"When Break Sword is destroyed, I can target two Phantom Knights monsters with the same level in my grave and special summon them. In addition, I can increase their levels by one!" Yuto declared. "Revive, Ragged Gloves, Silent Boots, in defence position!"

Phantom Knights: Ragged Gloves (Level 3-4).

Phantom Knights: Silent Boots (Level 3-4).

"Two level 4's!" Yuzu exclaimed. "Then that means, he's going to summon that monster. Like I'll let you. Aria attack Ragged Gloves."

"Trap activate! Phantom Knights Sword! I target Ragged Gloves and it gains 800 ATK!" Yuto explained.

Yuzu blinked confused. "What's the point? It's in defence mode."

"Phantom Knights Sword other effect activates! When a monster equipped with it would be destroyed, I can destroy it! So Ragged Gloves survives!" he stated.

Yuzu wasn't about to let him get off that easily.

"Aria's effect activates! Once per turn when she doesn't deal battle damage you get hit with 800 points of damage," Yuzu shouted as Aria released a sonic wave at Yuto.

**Yuto LP: 2000 Hand: 2**

Yuto didn't even flinch as he took on Aria's attack. It was just like in the duel with that LDS student. There was no power behind the attacks made by Standard Duellists. No sharpness of a blade, or power of a bullet from their duelling. It wasn't as if he was looking down on them or anything, or Yuzu for that matter. It was just a simple analysis. However, that only added to his belief that Standard wasn't aligned with Academia, whose attacks were so much more powerful and vicious.

"Canon, finish off Ragged Gloves for good!" Yuzu shouted as the blue fairy finally destroyed Yuto's monster. "I set one card and end my turn!"

Yuzu breathed out a sigh of relief. While she had struggled at first, she'd now managed to turn things around, for the moment at anyway.

'_So her deck involves swarm based tactics. Interesting. Swarming the field is necessary when attempting to XYZ Summon,'_ Yuto thought as he stared down each of her monsters. _'It feels like I'm duelling with Sayaka, and to a certain extent Ruri.'_

Yuto worried about his friend's fates. Ever since Ruri had vanished he and Shun had been searching endlessly for her with no leads, until they had heard about this place and the Professor having a son here. If they could capture him, then maybe they could use him as a hostage to bargain with him. It was a long shot but it was all they had.

Sayaka he was worried about because of how she might be handling things back at home. She was a good duellist however she wasn't a soldier. She couldn't handle the battlefield like the rest of them. The last time he had seen her was before they left when she packed their food and wished them luck. He hoped Allen and Kaito would look after properly and make sure she was safe.

Yuzu gazed at Yuto concerned. It had been like two minutes since ended her turn and the entire time he had spaced out. Maybe he was trying to strategize but she couldn't be sure.

"Um, are you okay?" Yuzu asked.

Yuto blinked, snapping back to reality. "W-What?"

'_He really did space out. Unbelievable!'_ she deadpanned. "You've been standing there looking at my monsters for two minutes. Is there something wrong?"

Yuto waved his head. "No nothing like that. Sorry. I was just thinking about something."

'_Right now he reminds me so much Yuya,'_ Yuzu thought.

"My turn! I draw! I summon Phantom Knights: Cloven Helm (_Dark/Level 4/Warrior/1500 ATK/500 DEF_)! Now, I overlay level 4 Cloven Helm and Silent Boots! Formed from pitch-black darkness, to fight those foolish enough to oppose its treacherous fangs! Descend, now! XYZ Summon! Rank 4, Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon (_Dark/Rank 4/Dragon/XYZ/2500 ATK/2000 DEF_)!" Yuto chanted.

The large black and purple dragon with purple orbs that harnessed lightning had finally appeared roaring loudly.

Yuzu's eyes widened in fear. She knew how powerful that dragon was, and damage it could do. However, she wasn't about to back down, not without a fight.

"Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon's effect activates! By detaching one overlay unit I can target a level 5 or higher monster and cut its attack points in half, and then add the same amount to Dark Rebellion for this turn! Treason discharge!" Yuto yelled.

Purple lighting shot from its wings and surrounded Mozarta (ATK3200-1600) depleting its attack and raising Dark Rebellions (ATK2500-4100).

"Battle! Dark Rebellion, attack Mozarta the Melodious Maestra! Revolt of Lightning Disobey!" Yuto shouted.

"Trap activate! Mozartas Requiem! With this I negate your attack and the battle phase ends. In addition, I'm allowed to draw a card," Yuzu declared as she drew from her deck.

"In that case, I set one card and end my turn," Yuto said.

'_That was close! If I didn't have that trap, I would have already lost. I need to get rid of that monster, and I need to do it next turn!'_ Yuzu decided.

'_Judging from the look in her eyes, she knows she needs to finish it next turn. Unfortunately, that won't happen. This duel is already over,'_ Yuto decided as he looked at his face-downs. _'I want to see how far you'll go first. Because when Academia comes, and they will, they will show no mercy!'_

"My turn! I draw!" Yuzu said as she examined the card she drew. It took everything she had not to smirk. Because she could win this, and she would. "First I activate Fortissimo and boost Mozarta again, and next I'll equip her with the spell Cestus of Dagla which not only boosts her attack by 500, but any damage I deal you is added to my LP!"

Mozarta the Melodious Maestra (2600-3200-3700).

"Battle! Mozarta attack Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon! Graceful Wave!" Yuzu ordered.

"I activate my trap Half Unbreak! Dark Rebellion can't be destroyed this turn and all damage I would take from attacks involving this card is cut in half!" Yuto countered.

Yuzu scowled as Yuto's dragon was coated in a large bubble. Mozarta's attack bounced off of it creating a small burst of wind. But it didn't matter because it survived much to her frustration. However, where Yuto's LP fell, Yuzu's rose.

**Yuto LP: 1400 Hand: 0**

**Yuzu LP: 1600 Hand: 1**

"Don't think you'll get off that easy! Because she didn't deal battle damage Aria deals you 800!" Yuzu reminded him.

**Yuto LP: 600 Hand: 0**

"I set one card and end my turn!" Yuzu declared. _'Alright, I'm set. Even if I wasn't able to end it this turn I will during Yutos. The trap I've set is Musical Mayhem which will inflict 800 points of damage for every Melodious monster I've got out on the field. And I've got more than enough!'_

Yuto silently observed Yuzu. While he couldn't say for certain, he guessed that face down was her key to winning or destroying his ace. From everything he had gathered throughout the duel, he acknowledged Yuzu was a pretty decent duellist with a good skill level. Her deck was balanced and she knew how to utilise it. He had already figured out a few ways to incorporate XYZ Summoning into it.

While he did acknowledge her abilities, he wasn't about to let her win.

"My turn! I draw!" Yuto said.

"Trap activate! Musical Mayhem!" Yuzu shouted surprising Yuto. "When this card is activated you take 800 points of damage for each Melodious monster on the field! And since there's three that means you take 2400 points of damage!"

Blue lighting shot straight towards Yuto. Admittedly he did not expect her to use her card the second he drew. It didn't matter though.

"Trap activate! Phantom Knights Barrier! When a spell or trap is activated, I can banish one Phantom Knights monster from my grave to negate and destroy it. I banish Silent Boots," Yuto declared.

Yuzu could only watch in horror as her trap failed.

"I activate Dark Rebellions effect and target Mozarta again. Treason Discharge!" Yuto said.

Mozarta the Melodious Maestra (ATK3700-1850).

Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon (ATK2500-4350).

"This is the end! Dark Rebellion, attack Mozarta! Revolt of Lightning Disobey!" Yuto shouted.

The dark dragon soared at the elegant fairy with wings glowing blue and surging with electricity. The tip of its chin glowed bright blue as it pierced Yuzus monster and exploded.

Yuzu let out a scream as she was sent flying back a little.

**Yuzu LP: 0 Hand: 0**

Yuto silently cursed at his monster. Despite having promised to hold back, he still ended up causing damage to the surrounding area.

He walked over to where Yuzu was who was just starting to sit up. He stood over her and offered out his hand, which she gratefully accepted.

"Sorry about that," he said a bit sheepishly. "With most of my other cards I can hold back with. Dark Rebellion unfortunately doesn't follow the same limitations." Yuzu stared at him blankly. "That aside, you did good. Now that I've seen how your deck functions we can get started on the real training."

Yuzu nodded. There was one thing she was curious about though.

"Hey, that last trap you used, you had it set since your first turn," she pointed out. "Why didn't you use it when I played Mozartas Requiem? If you had you would've definitely won a turn earlier."

"True. However, I wanted to test how far you would go in the duel and winning early wouldn't have allowed me to fully scope out your abilities," Yuto admitted.

Yuzu could see the logic in his argument. If he was going to be teaching her, he would need to know her deck's structure.

"Point taken. So, when do we officially start?" Yuzu asked. "I'm free for the entire month aside from when I'm in school."

Yuto thought about it for a moment. "How about tomorrow around five? I should be available. I think enough is enough for tonight."

"That's fine by me," Yuzu said.

Throughout the next couple of seconds, the two exchanged contact information so they'd know when and where to talk and meet up. Just as they were about to part ways, Yuto asked Yuzu something that had been on his mind earlier today.

"Yuzu, that girl from earlier today, she asked if I was the one behind the recent incident. Do you have an idea what she was talking about?" he asked.

Yuzu's eyes widened. So Yuto hadn't known about it, that meant there's no way he could have been involved.

"I only learned about it earlier today but, apparently a few days ago an LDS professor was attacked, by an XYZ user," Yuzu explained.

"WHAT?" Yuto shouted alarmed, startling Yuzu.

He turned away and glared at the ground. He knew exactly what had happened and who was responsible.

"That idiot, what does he think he's doing?" Yuto growled.

"Someone you know?" Yuzu enquired.

"Possibly, hopefully not," Yuto muttered. "Anyway, thanks for telling me Yuzu."

"No problem Sensei!" Yuzu replied.

Yuto's head snapped up at being called Sensei.

"What? You are my Sensei now since you're teaching me XYZ Summon. Should I not call you it?" she asked.

"Just Yuto is fine," he answered quickly. "Anyway, I'd better get going. See you around Yuzu."

"See you Yuto Sensei," Yuzu joked.

This time Yuto just chuckled as he kept walking. He had something he needed to do, or rather he needed to speak with someone. Shun was going to get an earful from him.

Yuzu turned and walked in the opposite direction.

**Yuzu's house later**

After arriving home her father questioned her about where she had been to which she said she was out training. She then told her dad that she wouldn't be attending duel school until the tournament so she could train, much to his chagrin. It took a small while, a smack on the head from her fan, but she convinced him to let her go through with it.

After a hot shower, she lay on her bed and stared at her bracelet, contemplating what the future held.

"Tonight, was the first step, but tomorrow the real training begins," Yuzu said softly.

With that she surrendered to tiredness and fell asleep.

**With Yuto**

Yuto had wandered around looking for Shun. He didn't know what he was thinking but it wasn't going to get them anywhere. Standard wasn't their enemy; their duellists were proof of that. Shun wasn't being as smart about it. Yuto briefly wondered if the professor that went missing used Fusion which is why Shun attacked him, however he decided to put it on hold for the time being until he found his best friend.

His meeting with Yuzu was still present in his mind from today. Of all the scenarios he pictured, becoming her XYZ teacher was not one of them. Still, he was willing to commit to it if she would survive in the future.

He reflected on how she called him sensei. He supposed he was one now. Although, being completely honest with himself, he figured he'd do something like this after becoming a pro duellist in his own dimension. That had been his dream alongside Ruri, Shun, and the others before the invasion, before their home hand become a battlefield.

While he processed this, there was one other thing about Yuzu calling him Sensei that made him freeze.

"That was the first time, in a long time I've laughed about anything," Yuto realized.

**Hi there. Well, what did you think of that? What did you think of the duel? I wanted Yuzu to put up a fight but still end with Yuto winning since after everything he's been through I don't think he'd just lose.**

**Yuzu and Yuto's relationship is going to be a bit slow in this fic. They'll be moments where they grow close and start to develop feelings for each other without realizing it. Much like aa real-life couple.**

**A couple of things about this chapter. Yuzu's cards are currently based off their anime but I'm hoping to change that near the end of the Standard Arc. Aria's effect is slightly altered so it only activates when she doesn't inflict battle damage (I saw Yuzu do it in her duel with Chojiro so I thought why not) Yuto's are based off the OCG/TCG because at this point they weren't introduced into the story.**

**Also while there will be duels, they won't happen every chapter. Next chapter will feature Reiji Akaba and show Shun as Yuto argues with him.**

**Hope you enjoyed! Please review!**

**OC Cards**

**Mozarta's Requiem (Normal Trap)**

When a 'Melodious monster you control is targeted for an attack you can negate that attack and end the battle phase. Then you may draw one card from your deck.

**Phantom Knights Barrier (Counter Trap)**

When a spell or trap card is activated you can banish one Phantom Knights monster from your grave to negate and destroy it.


	4. Friendly reunion

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh Arc V**

"President," Tio called out from his communicator. "We've arrived at the designated area."

"I see," a calm yet serious voice answered. "What have you found?"

Tio rubbed his head annoyed. He didn't think his answer would satisfy but proceeded, nonetheless.

"Honestly, nothing," he admitted.

"Please elaborate," the president requested.

"There is some damage to the surrounding area, however, it's not as serious as the previous incidents," Tio explained. "Also, get this. Unlike the previous incident with Marco, there's no duel disk belonging to the victim left behind."

Tio was greeted with silence on the other end. Now the president was definitely intrigued. No victim, and lesser destruction, as far as attackers went, they usually stuck with one pattern of assault, they didn't swap. Perhaps it wasn't an attack, but simply a regular duel, though he wasn't about to jump to conclusions just yet. When he'd first heard the report of a high energy XYZ summon he had been surprised, not because it had happened but because it occurred in the same place as the first incident, or right next to it.

This presented a unique situation for him. The previous assaults had been more violent and had left greater damage, however with this one there was less. It was possible that the duellist was holding back this time, but for what purpose?

There was something else. Given how different the assailants attack pattern were to the previous one, it suggested that there wasn't one but two or more assailants from the XYZ dimension that were attacking LDS. He wasn't stupid, far from it. The readings they gave off when performing their dimensions summoning betrayed their presence.

"Perform a full sweep of the area and report to me on your findings," he ordered.

"Understood, President," Tio acknowledged before cutting the line.

Reiji Akaba stood up from his chair and gazed out the window at the vast city expanse. From a normal person's point of view, Maiami City could have been considered beautiful as it lit up, and to a certain extent peaceful. Unfortunately, he was not a normal person. He knew that whatever peace this city possessed, would soon be shattered.

Last week, his team had detected a high-powered Fusion Summon in the city, and now it seemed XYZ summon was factoring into it. XYZ was concerning, but Fusion even more so. It meant they had been infiltrated. For what purpose, he did not know, yet.

'_Leo Akaba, I don't know what your goal is by sending agents to my dimension, but I swear I will stop you!'_ Reiji vowed. _'No matter the cost, I will put an end to your ambitions!'_

And it was a promise he would work hard to keep.

**With Yuto**

Yuto was walking towards LDS while keeping out of sight of the general populace. The reason, LDS Main Building was where Shun was most likely to be. Thinking about it logically, LDS was there enemy (allegedly), so Shun would likely try and spy on them when they weren't out and about.

Once he arrived near the building, Yuto kept to the streets as he searched for his comrade. He was careful enough to ensure no one saw him. When he couldn't find him on the ground, Yuto took to the rooftops to look around.

That's when he saw him.

In the distance, wearing a blue trench coat and red scarf to cover his face, was none other than his comrade and best friend, Shun Kurosaki. He was standing on a building rooftop while aiming his duel disk at the building. Yuto was able to tell he was examining how many people were inside the building, or rather how many enemies he would have to fight.

"Shun," Yuto called out.

Shuns concentration broke the second he heard Yuto's voice.

"Yuto," he replied gruffly. "Where have you been?"

"Reconnaissance," he answered while doing his best to remain calm. "Where have you been?"

"Same as you," Shun replied dully.

Yuto wasn't buying it.

"Really? You just observed the people from LDS, you didn't duel anyone?" Yuto pressed.

Through his shades Shun narrowed his eyes at his best friend.

"And what if I did?" Shun growled. "What's it to you?"

Having heard that, Yuto didn't need any more evidence to know Shun was guilty of what he suspected.

"Shun, I am only going to ask you once," Yuto said barely containing his anger. "Did you attack a professor from LDS?"

Shun blinked surprised.

"How'd you find out?" Shun asked.

"So, you did do it?" Yuto interrogated. "Why?"

Shun glared at his companion. That question was stupid in so many ways. Shouldn't it have been obvious.

"Why? Because he was an enemy that's why," Shun snarled. "He used Fusion Yuto, I saw it with my own eyes. When we duelled, he used that _evil_ card on his first turn. Only someone associated with Academia would do that. As such, I did what needed to be done."

"Shun, these people, the members of LDS aren't working with Academia," Yuto argued. "I have duelled a few recently and the way they fight is nothing like Academia. Their attacks lack the strength and sharpness Academia's duel soldiers possess."

"So what!" Shun snapped. "Fusion is Fusion! And anyone who uses that evil method is an enemy of mine! Have you forgotten what those people did to us Yuto? To our friends, our families, our homeland?"

"I could never forget," Yuto argued back. "However, these people are not out enemy. Standard utilises all summoning methods, Fusion included. Are you going to attack everyone here who uses that summoning, even if they are not associated with LDS or Academia? Speaking of LDS, there are those who use XYZ and Synchro, are they enemies of yours?"

Shun didn't need to think about any of those questions.

"Yes to all of those," he stated. "Anyone who uses that summoning method is evil, and I will deal with them as see fit. And those who use XYZ and Synchro from LDS, if they align themselves with them, then they will be considered enemies as well. No exceptions!"

Yuto groaned at how stubborn Shun was being about this. He wasn't even thinking about the factors involved or the consequences surrounding it, he was just unleashing his rage at whoever crossed his path.

"How did you even find out?" Shun asked curiously.

"I overheard a couple of students talking about it," Yuto lied. _'There's no way I'm telling him about Yuzu. If Shun finds out there was a Ruri lookalike here in this dimension, there's no telling what he would do. Also, I would like to teach her XYZ Summoning without any interference.'_

Shun didn't seem to pick up on it so they just left it at that.

"They said the professor went missing," Yuto continued. "Shun, please tell me you do what I think you did."

Instead of answering him Shun held up a card. Within it was man with fluffy red and blonde hair holding his arms up with a terrified expression.

Yuto could only stare in horror at what his best friend had done. He carded another person simply because he declared him an enemy, and worse, he had done it like it meant nothing. It made Yuto sick to his stomach.

"How could you?" Yuto growled. "HOW COULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS SHUN?! These people aren't Academia, they aren't out enemy! You can't just go around attacking and sealing them into cards just like that!"

"THEY'RE MY ENEMIES!" Shun shouted back. He turned and pointed at the main building. "That man's son is in there running this corporation. The only way to get to him is through his people, and if I have to card each of them one by one just so he comes out of hiding then so be it! If it ends with Ruri being rescued, then that's all that matters. Anything and anyone else is trivial."

It was amazing how their arguing hadn't attracted any attention from nearby bystanders, even if they were on the roof.

"Shun, I miss her to, but this isn't the way," Yuto pleaded. "Ruri would never tolerate what you're doing."

"Ruri. Isn't. Here." Shun stated. "She's locked away, God knows where, by those Academia scum where they're doing who knows what to her." Shun took a moment to compose himself. "This may not be your way, but it is mine. I will do whatever it takes to rescue my sister, even if I have to card everyone in my path."

Yuto felt disturbed by Shun's attitude. The invasion had changed him, but Ruri's disappearance had turned him into something else. Yuto understood why, but that didn't mean he agreed with it.

"No," Yuto said finally.

Shun raised an eyebrow. "No? No what Yuto?"

"No, I won't support you on this one," he said. "I will continue to monitor and investigate LDS my way, however I will not card anyone. If it turns out they are working with Academia, or if Academia comes to this dimension, then I will stand by you and fight. However, you go down this path, and you are on your own."

To him it didn't matter what anyone else thought, he would do what he felt was right.

Shun seemed to understand this, however he couldn't accept it. Turning his back to his best friend Shun started to walk.

"So be it," He said softly, yet there was also a hint of sadness in his voice. "But Yuto, please don't get in my way."

Yuto didn't say anything, not that he wanted to. He was hoping that Shun would see reason, but the opposite had taken place. With a sad expression, he turned in the opposite direction to leave.

He was relieved he'd agreed to be Yuzu's teacher now. With the way he was feeling, it would be a good distraction.

**The next day**

Yuzu woke up early as usual that morning and went about her usual daily routine. Her father was still upset that she wasn't coming to duel school anymore.

"Dad, I already told you, I'm doing this to get stronger in time for the tournament," she told him.

"I get that, but why can't you do it at the school?" Shuzo huffed. "Is my hot-blooded training not good enough for you?"

"I never said it wasn't good," Yuzu argued. "I just need this training to be a secret. I want to be able to wow you all when the Maiami Championship begins. Trust me dad, you won't be disappointed."

Shuzo sighed in annoyance. He didn't know what had caused this sudden change in his cute daughter (though he had a very good idea) but he had to admit he kind of liked it. Yuzu was aiming to become stronger, to become a much better entertainment duellist than she already was, and he couldn't fault her for that. Why he had been the same during his youth when he was on his path to becoming a pro.

"Fine, if it makes you happy then I won't argue," Shuzo said much to Yuzu's delight. "I will hold you up to your end though."

Yuzu nodded, thrilled she'd gotten his approval.

"By the way, did you hear about Yuya getting four matches to qualify?" she asked in attempt to change the subject.

"Yeah, I was there for it when Nico Smiley came around with the news of Yuya having a free pass into the Championship," Yuzu was still surprised that actually happened. The match against Strong Ishijima was just an exhibition, winning it shouldn't have meant Yuya automatically got a free pass. "While it was a good offer, I'm actually glad Yuya turned it down and is trying to earn his way in." Yuzu couldn't help but agree with that. "Hey is Sora entering do you know?"

Yuzu furrowed her eyebrows.

"Not that I know of," she admitted. "Honestly, I don't know what Sora's duel record is. He only recently came to Maiami so it couldn't be that much. I'll ask him if I see him."

Shortly after that she quickly finished up breakfast and headed off to school. While on the way she met up with Yuya and Sora. She asked Sora about his participation in the tournament to which he said he only found out this morning and asked Yuya to ask Nico Smiley to arrange six matches so he could enter.

At school, things lew by really quickly. Nothing unusual happened. Lessons ran normally, she smacked Yuya with her fan when he fell asleep in class, and they ate lunch together. Luckily, she didn't see Sawatari again. It seemed that he was staying away from Yuya until the tournament started. Perhaps so he could use whatever new Pendulum cards he got. While she did not like him, Yuzu didn't doubt his words about LDS creating new Pendulum cards. Reiji Akaba had managed to do it albeit with a few flaws in the design.

Towards the end of the day however, something did happen. An announcement from the Principal telling them that school would finish this week. Apparently, the LDS Corporation had managed to authorise it so participants in the tournament could focus training on that. How they did that Yuzu never found out, but it didn't matter, it worked out perfectly for her.

'_Great, this means I can spend more time training with Yuto,'_ Yuzu thought.

Once the bell rang, Yuzu gathered her things and left as quickly as possible, while telling a confused Yuya that she had somewhere to be.

Later she arrived at the designated location twenty minutes early, which was at a local park. Much to her surprise, Yuto was already there.

"You're early," Yuzu exclaimed.

"As are you," Yuto countered. "I must say I'm surprised. Most people generally wouldn't show up on time."

Yuzu couldn't argue against that.

"That's true. Since I'm the one who asked you to do this, it would be rude if I didn't," Yuzu explained.

Yuto nodded. "Very well then, let's get started. To start I had us meet here because it's a change of scenery and because we aren't duelling today. There will be time enough for that later. Today we're going to focus on your deck and how to structure it. From what I gathered last night, it's a Light Fairy type deck that focuses on swarming."

"Yes," Yuzu confirmed. "It's mostly so I can summon my ace Mozarta, and then get more monsters out on the field."

That was her primary strategy. And it had won her many duels.

"Would it be alright if I took a look at your deck?" Yuto asked politely.

He received a good look at it last night but he wanted to know what else was there. The more he knew the better he would be able to help her.

Trusting him, Yuzu handed over her deck, to which Yuto quickly skimmed through, reading each card and their effects. It was definitely suited for XYZ Summon, and perhaps Synchro.

"Pretty good. I can think of a few strategies you could use," Yuto admitted. "There's one matter we need to deal first though. We need to get you an XYZ monster."

Otherwise all of this, would be pointless. However, that's where the difficulty arose. First, they needed to find a place that sold the right cards. Yuto knew there were card shops in this city, he had seen them although he never entered. Therefore, he didn't know what shops to buy them in.

"Do you know any stores that would sell XYZ monsters or support cards?" he asked.

"I could look it up. There's this card store app that allows people to look for specific cards and what shops they might be in near you," she explained. "It's quite convenient. I've only used it to get a few Light support cards though."

"Does 'Melodious' have any XYZ monsters in their group?" Yuto asked. "If not, we could look at other monsters. Based on what I've seen from your deck a couple of Rank 4's would suit you."

There were many different archaetypes in this dimension to his own though there were a few cards he recognised.

"I'll look it up now," Yuzu said as she took out her duel disk. She activated the app and typed in what she needed. "Huh, well what do you know, there is an XYZ monster, and it's in a shop I know."

"In that case," Yuto removed his mask. "Let's get moving."

Seeing his face for the second time, Yuzu was genuinely surprised at how much he resembled Yuya. Their faces were almost identical. If you took away eye and hair colour you could say they were twins.

"Is something wrong?" Yuto asked.

"Nothing," Yuzu denied. "It's just that you look a lot like a friend of mine."

Yuto narrowed his eyes. Thinking back when he first met Yuzu, she had called him someone else's name.

"This friend is yours? By any chance, would he be called Yuya?" Yuto enquired.

Yuzu nodded affirmatively. "Yeah. Also, you might find this hard to believe, but he has the same face as you."

'_The same face! That's just like when I thought Yuzu was Ruri,'_ Yuto thought incredulously. _'That seems too much of a coincidence.'_

Instead of continuing the conversation, Yuto had them go straight to the store.

**Elsewhere**

It was a beautiful day in Maiami city. The sun was shining throughout the city as its citizens buzzed with energy. Most were excited for the upcoming Maiami Championship, whether they were participating in it or not, while others were scrambling to gain entry as quickly as possible.

One such participant was walking through the city after a long dance rehearsal. Today's particular lesson had been particularly tiring but well worth the effort. If she continued at the rate she was going, she would achieve her dream with no problems. And participating in this tournament would help her achieve that.

She walked through the streets with no intention other than finding a café to sit down and enjoy some nice 'Blue Eyes' tea at her favourite café, Shining Friendship. At least that's what she was planning until she caught a glimpse of pink across from the street. She stopped suddenly to get a better look.

'_Is that?'_ she wondered. Then pink turned and she got a good look at her face. _'It is her! Gosh it's been so long! I'd better go say hi.'_ She noticed another person beside Yuzu, a boy with purple hair as they both wandered into a card shop. _'Who's that with her. A boyfriend! Wait, hold on, don't jump to conclusions! He could just be a friend.'_ There was only one way to find out. _'See you soon Yuzu!'_

**Inside the card shop**

Yuto had to admit he was impressed with some of the cards he was seeing. Standards duellists may not have been the strongest, but they did have some really good cards.

'_I honestly wouldn't mind using some of these cards in my deck,'_ Yuto thought. _'If I had the money that is.'_

Since they came to this dimension, Yuto and Shun had been living off rations Sayaka packed for them. They didn't bring any money, not that it would have worked here. The currency was different to what he normally used in his own dimension. When they ran out, he wasn't sure what they would do. Yuto really didn't want to resort to stealing but if things came to it, they would have no choice.

"Excuse me sir," Yuzu addressed holding out her duel disk. "I was looking for a certain card, and I found out it was here. Would you by any chance still have it?"

The shopkeeper examined the card and his eyes widened in recognition.

"Oh, 'Strauss the Melodious Apprentice', yeah we've got it," he informed her. "You a fan of the 'Melodious' Archaetype?"

Yuzu nodded. "Yeah, my deck focuses mostly around that."

"You're in luck then Miss, in addition to Strauss, two more 'Melodious' XYZ monsters came into today, a rank 3 and a rank 5. I could show them to you if you'd like," he offered.

Yuzu hadn't expected this but she jumped at the opportunity. One monster was good, but three was better. Granted the only level 5 monster she had in her deck was Elegy, so she would have to get another.

"Yes please," she quickly agreed. "If you have them, I'd like to take a look."

The shopkeeper went into the back while Yuzu waited with Yuto.

"Well, I must say I didn't expect this," he admitted.

"I know right, I didn't even know they sold 'Melodious' XYZ monsters," Yuzu agreed. "Then again, it's been years since I first got them, so it makes sense."

Yuto could sort of relate. When his parents first got him his Phantom Knights deck, it only had two XYZ monsters related to the archaetype. As years went on, the card company developed a few more without him knowing. It was only by chance he had come across them in a shop and tracking them down was no easy task either. Oddly enough, 'Dark Rebellion' had always been apart of his deck even before he got it, but he couldn't remember how or where.

The shops bell chimed as a new customer entered. For a few seconds nothing happened, until this.

"HEY! Don't you lay a finger on that girl!"

Before anyone could react, Yuzu instinctively whipped out her fan and attempted to hit whoever was coming up from behind her, only to be met with nothing.

Yuto was somewhat intimidated by Yuzu at that moment. An expression of pure rage was painted across her face as she emitted a dark and powerful aura.

'_Note to self, don't make her too angry!'_ Yuto thought frantically. _'Where did she get that fan? Did she have it on her the entire time? If that were the case, where would she keep it?'_

Yuzu scanned the room for the perpetrator only to realize there was only one other person in the shop. As soon as she saw her, Yuzu nearly dropped her fan.

The girl was taller than she was. She possessed shoulder length brown hair, and blue eyes. Her attire consisted of a pink coat, a white oxford shirt, a blue tie, a blue pleated skirt, black thigh-high socks, and brown shoes.

The girl smiled warmly and gave small wave to Yuzu.

"Hey Yuzu," she greeted. "Long time no see."

Yuto was now aware that Yuzu knew this woman, albeit he couldn't tell if she was a friend or not.

"I don't believe it," Yuzu exclaimed. "Is that really you, Tea?"

**Hi there. Well, what did you think of that? I bet you didn't expect to see Tea Gardner in this story. Since Arc V has legacy characters in three dimensions related to a different series, Asuka and Edo from GX, Jack and Crow from 5D's, Kaito from Zexal, the Standard dimension would likely host individuals from the original series.**

**The reason I chose to include Tea was because I thought she would be a good friend for Yuzu. You'll see a bit more of their relationship in the next chapter. And before anyone asks yes she can duel. Tea will be participating in the Maiami Championship in the Senior Division.**

**There will be other Legacy characters showing up in the future, some as antagonists, others as protagonists. I also have plans to introduce an OC as a Lancer who I hope you all will like. Speaking of which, the Lancers will be comprised differently this time. There will be some from the original, but a few extra that weren't like my OC.**

**The app Yuzu and Yuto used to find the cards they were looking for was something I came up with. In the anime, I can't understand how Sora and Yuzu came across the Melodious Fusion cards unless they went store to store looking for them.**

**Next chapter will feature Yuzu and Tea reunite as Yuto gets to know them both. It will also feature a duel between Tea and an old adversary. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review!**


	5. Heavenly Agents vs Elemental Monarchs

**Hey. I'm sure you've gotten warnings about it before, and I'm sure your sick of hearing about it, but I will provide one of my own.**

**With the Coronavirus spreading across the world, please follow your governments directions and stay inside. The disease is dangerous and has infected and killed many people. so, please stay inside and avoid contact with others. I know it won't be easy but please try so that you and your family and friends will be safe.**

**Okay onto the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything**

**Flashback**

**Ten years ago**

_Four-year-old Yuzu Hiragi sat in the hall of her father and Uncle Yusho's duel school. Students had gone home for the day, yet she was still here along with her dad and uncle, not that she was complaining. She spent most of her time at the duel school, even if she wasn't a student yet. Still, she wanted to hurry up and join so she could be an entertainment duellist like her family._

_She was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of voices not too far off. One of them belonged to her father, the other her uncle, the third voice however, she didn't recognise. Yuzu could definitely tell it was a woman though._

"_As soon as the process is complete, how long will it be before my daughter can attend your school?" the woman asked._

"_Not long Mrs Gardner," Yusho answered. "She should be able to start by the beginning of next week."_

"_That's good," the woman said sounding relieved. "The sooner the better."_

_They came around the corner and Yuzu got a good look at the new arrivals. There was a woman in a business suit with a girl who couldn't have been that much older than her._

"_Ah, Yuzu," her father warmly greeted. "Sorry to keep you waiting."_

"_It's alright daddy," Yuzu said. She gazed at the two women. "Who are they?"_

"_This is Mrs Gardner and her daughter,' Shuzo informed her. "She'll be enrolling here as a student."_

_Yuzu didn't say anything. She knew new students came from time to time, and she had seen some of the older ones leave and never return. Though she didn't understand why._

_Mrs Gardner smiled warmly at Yuzu._

"_Hello Yuzu. It's nice to meet you," she greeted._

"_It's nice to meet you," Yuzu repeated as she bowed._

"_My, what a polite young lady you are," Mrs Gardner complimented._

_Yuzu blushed at the compliment. Then, her Uncle Yusho did something that she would later forever be grateful for._

"_Yuzu, your dad and I things we need to discuss with Mrs Gardner. So why you take her daughter here on a tour of the school since she'll be enrolling soon," Yusho offered._

"_Um, okay," Yuzu replied uncertainly._

_She didn't want to argue but she didn't feel comfortable being around a stranger by herself._

_Once the adults were gone, it was just her and the girl on their own. For a few moments, they did nothing but stare at each other in silence. That was until Yuzu remembered what her uncle asked her to do, and therefore decided to introduce herself._

"_Good evening. My name is Yuzu Hiragi," Yuzu announced as she bowed. "It's nice to meet you."_

_That caused the girl to laugh, much to Yuzu's confusion and irritation. She didn't get what was so funny._

_Eventually the girl did stop and looked directly at Yuzu smiling._

"_You don't need to be so formal," the girl told her. "We're going to be students here from now on. We should be more friendly." Yuzu was quick to realize that the girl didn't know she wasn't a student but didn't get a chance to correct her. "Anyway, it's nice to meet you Yuzu. My name is…"_

**Flashback end**

Tea Gardner.

Yuzu couldn't believe it. It was really her. Tea smiled warmly at her old friend. It had been years since they'd seen each other, ever since she left You Show to focus on school and pursuing her dream.

"Tea, it's really you," Yuzu rushed into a hug.

"Yeah, it is," Tea returned the embrace. "It's been a long time, and I can see you've grown up."

Yuzu nodded happily. Wait until her friends heard about this, they would be thrilled. Her dad especially.

Yuto was going to ask who this woman was but after seeing how sweet the scene looked, he decided against it.

"I didn't know you were back in town," Yuzu exclaimed. "How long have you been back?"

"I transferred at the start of the year," Tea explained. "The dance lessons I'm taking are close to here so in thought it would be a good idea to change schools. Also, I'm taking part in the Maiami Championship in the Senior Division, since it'll be my last chance this year."

"That's fantastic," Yuzu said ecstatically. "I'm taking part in the Youth Division. I'll be sure to root for you."

"Same here," Tea responded just as excited.

Yuto smiled at the scene. The two were obviously very close, or at least had been at some point in their lives. He also felt a little sad watching it, not because of what the future held but because it reminded him of his friendship with Shun, or at least what it once was. He wondered where Shun was right now, probably spying on LDS although Yuto secretly hoped that was all he was doing.

He was also a little curious about this Championship they were talking about. Not that he was interested in participating or anything, no he was just curious that's all. He didn't think he should anyway since he wasn't in this dimension to have fun. Then again, he wasn't here to teach Yuzu XYZ either but here he was.

"Excuse me Miss," the shopkeeper came back. "I have the cards you were looking for."

Yuzu suddenly remembered why she was here in the first place.

"Sorry," she said backing away from her friend. "Could you excuse me for just a second?"

"New cards?" Tea guessed.

Yuzu nodded before walking up to the shopkeeper. In front of her were three, never before seen (at least to her) Melodious monsters. The obvious difference was that they were coloured black alongside their levels… ranks. Yuzu awed at them they were incredible. The effects and attack/defence points were impressive. She knew then, she had to buy them.

"XYZ monsters," Tea whispered. "You use XYZ summon now?"

"I'm learning how to do it," Yuzu replied sheepishly. "This is just the first step. You see there's someone who's competing in Maiami Championship who I really want to beat."

"Which is why I'm teaching her," Yuto said finally making his presence known.

Tea looked in his direction having forgotten Yuzu came in with someone. She gasped when she saw his face. It had been four years, but she hadn't forgotten his face, especially since it was all over the news.

"Yuya, is that you?" Tea asked now approaching the said boy. "My you look different. Did you dye your hair? Not that I'm complaining or anything, it looks really good on you. And what about your eyes? Are you wearing contacts?"

Yuto sweat dropped. He wasn't actually Yuya, but she seemed to think he was. He wondered if this was going to happen a lot while he was here. Perhaps he should stick to his mask.

"Tea, that's not Yuya, that's Yuto," Yuzu explained. "They might have the same face, but I can assure you they're different people."

Tea looked a bit sceptical at hearing that. In this day and age, someone having a lookalike wasn't unheard of, but it wasn't common either. She decided to ask about it later.

"I have a voucher that gives me fifty percent off," Yuzu said as she handed it to the shopkeeper.

She was lucky she did, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to pay for all the cards. While she was buying them, the shopkeeper had provided some support cards related to XYZ which worked out quite well for her.

"So you're learning XYZ summoning now I see," Tea said softly.

"Yeah, there's a bit of a story behind it," Yuzu admitted.

"I'd love to hear about it," Tea smiled. "Not here though. Would you both mind accompanying me to this café I like? It's known as Shining Friendship. It's the perfect place to talk, especially over some Blue Eyes tea."

Yuzu was all for the idea and immediately agreed. Yuto was less enthusiastic.

"I don't have any money," he said slightly embarrassed.

He didn't know anything about the currency in this dimension. He'd mainly been surviving off the food he and Shun brought.

Tea didn't mind though.

"That's no problem. I'll pay for it," she shrugged. "I'm the one inviting you two after all."

Yuto was legitimately surprised at that. Tea just met him and yet she was willing to treat him at a café. She was a definitely a nice one.

"If you say so," Yuto said.

Tea nodded. "Shall we?"

**Shining Friendship Café**

The trio entered the café and quickly got themselves a table. While walking Yuto could easily see that this was a fairy themed café as the walls and tables were decorated with cute fairy type monsters, some of which were surprisingly familiar to Yuto. Even some of the desserts were themes after fairy types, though there were other monsters.

'_Sayaka would love this place,'_ Yuto thought.

As soon as they sat down, they ordered some Blue Eyes tea and some Strawberry Shortbread cake.

"Now, how have you been since I last saw you?" Tea asked enthusiastically. "I want to know everything."

Yuzu pondered over her answer for a minute.

"Honestly, not much aside from recently and the incident three years ago," Yuzu admitted. "I've been going to school, and duel school, practicing my entertainment duelling, qualifying for the Maiami Championship, and trying to look after the school alongside my dad which hasn't been easy."

"Why not?" Yuto asked without thinking.

Yuzu turned to him with a sad expression. Seeing as he had touched a sensitive topic, Yuto immediately attempted to apologise.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to," he said quickly.

"No, it's alright," Yuzu cut him off. "It's nothing too sensitive. Just something that's been around for a couple years."

Tea was tempted to explain to Yuto but chose to let Yuzu do it first.

"You see, my dad runs a duel school called You Show named after its founder Yusho Sakaki," Yuzu explained. "We teach people how to become entertainment duellists through the philosophy that duelling is about fun and bringing smiles to the audience."

Yuto couldn't help but admire the philosophy. It sounded so pure, like something he once followed when he duelled in his hometown Heartland. His school hadn't taught that sort of thing, but he did duel to make others like his friends and family happy. Albeit, there was something familiar about it. He remembered Ruri saying something similar when the Academia first attacked.

"You Show used to have lots of students, Tea being one of them," Yuzu said.

"I left a couple of years ago to focus on school and achieving my dream, both of which required me to move away," Tea quickly explained.

"She had a couple of other friends there who left for similar reasons," Yuzu continued. "However, three years ago there was an incident that caused students to rapidly drop out and join other schools."

Yuto was really interested now. Whatever happened must have been extremely serious. Students didn't just up and leave without a good reason.

"Yusho was scheduled to face Strong Ishijima, but for some reason he never showed up," Yuzu's expression turned sad. "As a result, he was disqualified, and people dubbed him a coward who ran away."

"Which is completely false," Tea fiercely defended. "No one knows why he didn't show up. And let me tell you now, Yusho sensei was many things, but a coward wasn't one of them. There's no way he would have ever run from a duel."

Even if she wasn't his student anymore, she didn't respond kindly to anyone bad mouthing her teacher.

"I believe you," Yuto said. "Although I don't know much about Yusho. Was he an important duellist? He sounds like one from the way you talk about him."

Yuzu and Tea both blinked.

"Wait, you've never heard of him?" Tea asked. Yuto waved his head. "How is that even possible? He's the greatest entertainment duellist that ever lived! Not only that, he also set the stage for action duelling!"

"What's that?" Yuto asked before he could stop himself.

Yuzu and Tea stared at him dumbfounded. How could he not know what action duels are? The entire world knew about them, so why didn't he?

Yuto realized he had made an error judging by the looks the girls were giving him. He silently cursed himself for not looking into this dimension's culture and practices sooner.

"I'm not from this city," Yuto quickly informed them. "I came here from a different country and we're quite isolated from the rest of the world."

That technically wasn't a lie. Luckily for him the two girls, didn't press the matter further. However, that didn't mean they didn't notice his little slip.

'_He's definitely hiding something,'_ they both thought. _'No way there's a country in this world that doesn't know about them. It's just not possible.'_

Instead they explained to Yuto about action duels and what went down during them. The dark-haired boy was mesmerized by their explanation. The duels in his homeland could be flashy and entertaining, but in this dimension, they were on a whole other level. Part of him wanted to take part in one but knew it wasn't possible.

Yuzu continued with her explanation by moving on to Yuya Pendulum summoning. Tea was intrigued by the new summoning method, as was Yuto. To his own knowledge Standard didn't have a unique summoning method, though this one was fairly new and wasn't widespread yet.

"It's cool and everything but you would not believe how many duels with Gongenzaka it took to get it right," Yuzu exclaimed in exasperation.

"Oh yeah, try us!" Tea challenged as she sipped her tea.

"291," Yuzu deadpanned.

Needless to say, her two friends reacted strongly to that revelation. Tea choked on her tea and accidentally spilled some of it on the table. Yuto, who was about to eat some cake, froze with the fork in his hand mid-air as he stared at Yuzu with his eyes wide and his mouth hung open. It took everything Yuzu had not to laugh at their faces right then and there.

"You, you're not serious," Yuto stammered. "291 attempts."

"Even for Yuya that is just sad," Tea lamented. "How does it take that long to master a summoning method that he created?"

"I know right. I still can't believe he did that, and I can't believe Gongenzaka helped him," Yuzu said annoyed. "His training in steadfast duelling has provided him with a strong, unmovable will. Although I can't say the same for Yuya, you should have seen him the following morning. He was sleeping all through class and when the teacher called him, he woke up shouting about Pendulum summoning. He wasn't doing that for long though."

Yuzu sounded a little malicious on the last part, much to Yuto's discomfort. Tea guessed what she meant.

"The fan," she guessed.

"The teacher then the fan," Yuzu clarified. "And that was after Yuya tried to come up with a poor excuse."

Yuto was confused about that fan of hers. Just where did she keep it?

Yuzu continued with her explanation about the confrontation with LDS, her loss, and the duel with Reiji Akaba which shocked Tea because she had never heard of someone using all summoning methods before. Then again maybe he didn't, Yuzu never said he used Ritual. Yuzu then came to the part where she was learning XYZ summon from Yuto.

"Oh, I get it now. You lost to that girl Masumi, which is why you're now learning XYZ summon from Yuto," Yuzu and Yuto nodded. "Well, Yuto you've got yourself a good student. Yuzu is really committed to learning."

"If it's coming from you then it must be true," Yuto answered.

"Okay, enough about me, now it's your turn Tea," Yuzu said. "How have you been since I last saw you? How are the others? Do you guys still talk?"

Yuto assumed she meant a few other former students that attended You Show alongside Tea.

"A lot less than is all I can say," Tea admitted. "I've been going to school while taking part in some duel tournaments to save up money. My dancing ha come a long way since the last time I saw you. Hopefully next year I'll be able to go professional."

"That's amazing," Yuzu exclaimed. "You've worked so hard and now your finally close to achieving your lifelong dream. Congratulations!"

Tea grinned at her friend.

"Thanks, but please save the congratulations for when I achieve it," she requested.

"So, that's your dream then, to be a professional dancer, not a duellist?" Yuto asked surprised.

In his dimension he had never come across another person who wanted to be anything other than a pro duellist. That didn't mean they didn't exist he had just never met them.

"No. Duelling's fun and I love it as much as the next person, but dancing is my passion," Tea responded enthusiastically. "I've loved it since I was a child and I want to do it now as an adult."

Yuto had to admit, that sounded beautiful.

"If that is what you desire then I pray it works out well for you," Yuto told her.

"Why thank you Yuto," Tea replied. "And what about you? Do you have a dream you're trying to follow?"

Yuto hesitated to answer. He didn't really know what he wanted to do with his life before and he certainly didn't have any plans now.

"I'm undecided at the moment," he finally said.

"Oh, that's not a problem," Tea shrugged. "You've got plenty of time to decide after all."

'_Maybe after the war I can think about it,'_ he thought. "I suppose."

Tea returned her gaze to Yuzu.

"Regarding your other question, I have been in contact with most of the others," Yuzu eagerly listened. "Joey is looking after his sister Serenity since she's due to undergo an operation soon that should repair her eyesight. He wants to spend every moment he has with her until the procedure is done." Already this guy reminded Yuto of Shun and Ruri. When Ruri got sick Shun usually stayed by her side until she got better. "Duke cut some sort of deal with LDS. He's working on some new game called Dungeon Dice, but he hasn't said anything other than that. And Tristan, I haven't heard from him in a year, so I don't know what he's up to. Last time we talked though, he said he decided to try out duelling and give it a proper chance. You wouldn't believe how surprised I was."

Yuzu on the other hand was definitely surprised, with Tristan anyway.

"I'm really happy for Joey, and I hope Serenity's operation goes well," she had only met the girl a few times but knew her well enough to know she was sweet girl. "I'm happy for Duke also. Getting a deal with LDS to create a new game is huge." While she may not have liked them that much, she couldn't deny that LDS held a lot of influence and could make a person's dream come true. "Tristan I'm surprised with. He was never really into duelling, so the why the sudden change?"

"Hold on a second," Yuto interrupted. "This Tristan guy, are you saying up until a year ago he wasn't a duellist?"

The two girls nodded in confirmation causing Yuto's eyes to widen.

"Then why? Why was he attending a duel school if he didn't like duelling, or wasn't a duellist for that matter? How did he even get in?" This didn't make any sense to him. "I don't mean to be rude or anything but, someone like that wouldn't normally allowed into a duel school, at least not where I'm from."

Yuzu and Tea exchanged glances. It wasn't the first time they had been asked about this. Heck, Tristan was asked about it a lot when they knew him.

"That's… Tristans story. I don't think we should tell you it without his permission," Tea answered. Yuto nodded. If they didn't want to discuss it, he wouldn't press them. "As for how he joined well, after much insistence from us, mostly Joey, he paid the school a visit just to see what it was like." Tea paused briefly. She needed to phrase this next part very carefully. "While he was impressed, he still didn't want to join. That's when Yusho Sensei came along, and let me say, he has a way with people. He was open to the idea of Tristan joining and was fine with him not duelling. He would never force someone to duel against their will, least of all a kid. Not too long after, Tristan ended up joining alongside the rest of us."

Tea had been one of the many who encouraged Tristan to join, and she was happy when he did. However, she was immensely apologetic as soon as she found out why. Yuzu only knew because she had overheard some of them talking, but was supportive, nevertheless.

"He got along quite well with both sensei's, Yusho especially. However, he and Joey both love Shuzo sensei's hot-blooded style and how passionate he was about it as well," Tea continued. "Speaking of which, how is your father?" Teas voice turned gruff and serious. "Is he still hot-blooded?"

Yuzu giggled at her friend's voice. That was actually a perfect imitation of her dad.

"Completely," Yuzu confirmed. "He still teaches it to me and Yuya, as well as the other students. Oh, we still have a few new ones. There's Ayu, Futoshi and Tatsuya who are in the "Youth" division, and then Sora who is currently in the process of qualifying for the Junior Youth Championship. Unlike the rest of us, Sora is from out of town, so he hasn't had any official matches."

"Meaning he'll have to get six straight wins in order to qualify," Tea bit her lip. "That's not gonna be easy. Lose one, and it's back to square one."

Yuto looked between them both with a curious expression.

"I'm sorry but what is this championship you keep talking about?" he asked. "And what are these official matches needed to qualify?"

This time, Yuzu wasn't as suspicious. Since Yuto was from out of town, it made sense that he wouldn't know about it, Sora didn't.

"Maiami Championship is a duelling tournament held once a year by LDS that invites duellists from different schools and branches all over the world to compete in. It's divided up into three divisions based on school level: Youth (Elementary), Junior Youth (Middle), and Senior (High). In order to qualify you have to take part in fifty official matches, basically action duels, with a sixty percent win ratio. However, if you win six matches in a row you can enter," Yuzu explained.

Yuto understood perfectly. Back in his homeland there had been a similar tournament called World Duel Carnival where you had to duel various participants in order to gain enough heart pieces to qualify for the finals. He had entered twice but never made it past the preliminaries. His friend Kaito had though, and he even won once.

"I'm entering because it's my last year before I graduate," Tea said. "Now that you know about it though, would you be interested in participating Yuto?"

"I'm afraid I'll have to pass," he replied without batting an eyelash.

"Why not?" Tea asked surprised he would turn the idea down without consideration. "Is it because of the qualification process? Or because of the duel schools involved? You don't actually have to be part of a school to join, you can go solo like I'm doing."

"That's not it. I can't exactly say why but I came to this city for a reason," he explained. "Taking part in this tournament would get in the way of that. So, sorry, but I won't be entering."

That may have sounded a bit rude, but he didn't care. Aside from teaching Yuzu, nothing was going to distract him from his mission.

Before either girl could respond, there were a couple of arrivals in the café that drew away their attention.

"Ugh, what an annoying day," a very familiar voice complained. "Those LDS officials, who don they think they are making me wait? Don't they know who my father is?"

Yuzu froze.

'_No way! Oh, you have to be kidding me, not him!'_ she internally cried.

'_That voice. Where have I heard it before?'_ Yuto wondered.

Tea noticed their reactions and became concerned. She turned to the new arrivals and saw it was four boys. From their uniforms she could tell they went to the same school as Yuzu and Yuya. The leader who was complaining was a boy with light brown and blonde hair. Walking directly behind him, with hair colours ranging purple, brown and green.

"Don't worry Sawatari, you'll get your Pendulum cards soon," the purplette said.

"Yeah, they promised you after all," the brunette added.

"And when you do, you'll finally be able to crush Yuya Sakaki," the greenette finished.

Yuzu felt her temper rising. Crush Yuya! This idiot still hadn't given up on that. As if she would let him. Unbeknownst to her, Tea was feeling the exact same way. Even Yuto was angered by the declaration. However, they didn't want to make a scene, so they stayed quiet and did their best to ignore him. Unfortunately, the universe was not feeling so kind at that moment.

"Oh, is that Yuzu Hiragi I see," Shingo exclaimed as he came closer. "It is. What brings you to this fine café."

"Out with some friends and nothing more," Yuzu responded both quickly and coolly.

She wanted this conversation over as soon as possible.

"And just who are your friends might I ask?" Sawatari asked. "I haven't seen them before."

Yuzu was about to say "none of your business" when Tea beat her.

"Tea," she said softly. "Tea Gardner. Senior division. As for why you've never seen us it's because we go to different schools."

"A pleasure," Shingo complimented. "My I never knew you had such beautiful companions outside your usual lot Hiragi. That's certainly a surprise."

Tea should have felt flattered, but she couldn't help but detect a certain insult in that sentence.

Yuto was able to pick up more based on his voice. It sounded similar to the condescending tone Academia's agents used.

Yuzu was trying her hardest not to whip out her fan right then and there, but it wasn't easy.

"And just what is your," Shingo turned to Yuto and finally got a good look at him. His eyes widened and he stood back pointing at him. "YOU! What are you doing here? And in the same getup you attacked me Yu."

"I'm not Yuya," Yuto harshly interrupted. "I'm Yuto."

Sawatari didn't believe him.

"Please, do you expect me to believe that?" he asked incredulously.

"Oh, it's true," Tea intervened. "This guy here is Yuto. He and Yuya might lookalike but I assure they're different people."

If Sawatari was listening he didn't show it. He was glaring at Yuto, who was apparently returning the favour.

"I'm not Yuya, I'm Yuto," he repeated. "I understand he and I lookalike but that's all. And what's this about me attacking you?"

"Ha," Shingo snorted. "Feigning innocence, are we? Well give it up! You know fully well that you attacked me at the warehouse and left me critically injured afterwards."

"I'm sorry, what?" Tea exclaimed.

She had no idea what was going on. She had only met Yuto an hour ago after all.

"It seems you are unaware, so I'll enlighten you," Shingo said in an important voice. "Little more than a week ago, I was minding my own business at a warehouse where me and my friends hang out when this man showed up out of nowhere and challenged to a duel. I accepted of course. And throughout the duel he brutalized me with his attacks and even when he won, he still wouldn't let up and left me with serious injuries which landed me in the hospital."

Despite what he was saying, Tea didn't quite believe it, and neither did Yuto.

"I seriously doubt that somehow," he retorted.

"Oh really?" Shingo sneered. "Any why's that? There were witnesses you know."

"That would be us," Kakimoto declared.

"Yeah, we were there when he was in hospital," Ootomo intervened.

"And we're not the only ones. Yuzu was present as well," Yamabe added.

Tea turned to her friend surprised. How was she involved in all of this?

Yuzu glared at Shingo and his sidekicks. She was really tempted to whip out her fan and whack them all. However, once again, someone interrupted her.

"Okay first of all, I attacked you once with my monster, and then finished you off with my spell," Yuto pointed out. "And you were barely hurt after either of them. If there was one thing I did seriously injure, it was probably your pride since you lost right after your first turn."

Shingo's face turned bright red at that fact. It was bad enough he lost the duel, but even worse that it was after he only had one turn.

"And secondly, I only duelled you because you and your goons were ganging up on Yuzu," Yuto growled.

"Ganging up!" Tea exclaimed outraged. Her glare rivalled Yuzu's as she gripped her teacup. "Four of you on one girl?! How dare you!"

Shingo panicked thinking she had misunderstood.

"Hold on, hold on, hold on," he said rapidly before composing himself. "It was Yuzu who started it when she barged in and challenged me to a duel, all the while yelling profanity upon my good name."

"Is that true Yuzu?" Tea asked uncertainly.

She didn't want to believe her friend would willingly get into any sort of trouble. Unfortunately, she was proven wrong with the next sentence.

"Yes, it is," Yuzu confirmed much to Tea's chagrin. "I went to take him on after I overheard his little sidekicks squad talking about how he was going to do whatever it took to crush Yuya, and there was no way I was ever going to let that happen."

Now Tea was definitely confused.

"I'm sorry but how does Yuya factor into all of this?" she asked.

Yuto was also curious.

"Sawatari lost a duel to Yuya" Yuzu stated.

"Only because he had Pendulum Summoning!" Shingo snapped. "If I had been lucky enough to have those cards then I would have been the victor. It was all because of the cards he won."

That literally did it. Yuzu was on her feet in an instant and slammed her hands down on the table causing some tea to spill and alerting several others. The boys cringed as a Yuzu released a demonic aura that left them petrified on the spot.

"You. Complete. Hypocrite!" Yuzu snarled. "You invited us to LDS in order to steal Yuya's Pendulum cards, and when you did you held me, Ayu, Futoshi, and Tatsuya as hostages to coerce Yuya into duelling you while the Action Field was active. Thanks to you, we were left dangling off a building while the duel was ongoing. And then Yuya got his cards back and beat you after you used them, and you have the nerve to say you lost because you didn't have them. Back at the warehouse I was right, you are a coward, sore-loser, hundred-rate duellist!"

Shingo glared at her with hatred burning in his eyes. This girl how dare she! And to think he acted polite towards her the other day.

"Dangling off a building," Yuto growled under his breath. An expression of pure rage was plastered across his face. "Do you even realize how dangerous that was?"

"They were perfectly fine," Shingo casually brushed off. "Not a scratch on any of them. Besides, that was mostly Yuya's fault for recklessly picking up action cards."

"We. Nearly. Died." Yuzu seethed through her teeth. "We fell off, due to the buildings position only to be saved by Yuya's monsters. If we hadn't, we would have died."

"Like I said, mostly Yuya's fault because he acted recklessly," Shingo shrugged off like it was nothing, much to everyone's disbelief. He then turned his attention back to Yuto. "Now, what to do with you? If you're not Yuya like you say you are then that means you're the one that assaulted me, and since you're an XYZ user you're likely behind all the other assaults. Let's see what the police make of this, shall we?"

Yuto's eyes widened. The police, was this guy serious?

"I haven't duelled anyone from LDS since you," Yuto defended.

"We'll see about that," Shingo sneered. "Still, I guess this means I was wrong to press charges against Yuya. I suppose I'll have to apologize."

'_Press charges!'_ Yuto thought bewildered. _'Wait! Does that mean?'_ He glanced at Yuzu who wore a worried expression. _'The reason Yuzu's school was in danger, the reason Yuya was accused, was it because of me?'_

Tea, who had been sitting quietly for the past few minutes finally stood up. Much to Yuzu's surprise, her expression was entirely neutral.

"When did you say this incident happened again?" she asked politely.

"Why little more than a week ago, of course," Shingo twirled his hair.

"And you were in hospital with injuries, you said?" she continued.

"Serious injuries. My life was practically being held by a thread as I lay in bed," Sawatari said dramatically.

'_Okay, he is exaggerating this way too much,'_ Yuto thought.

He didn't hurt him that badly, he knew he didn't.

Yuzu was interested in where Tea was heading with this interrogation.

"Well Sawatari, may I call you that?" Tea asked sweetly.

"I prefer New Neo Sawatari but whatever suits you," he smugly interrupted.

Yuzu facepalmed herself while an anime sweat drop fell down Yuto's head.

'_Seriously!'_ they thought incredulously.

Tea's expression didn't change.

"Well, New Neo Sawatari, that's quite an interesting story," Tea murmured much to Sawatari's delight. "You see, the thing is, I know you're lying."

"W-W-What?" he stuttered.

Tea rolled her eyes.

"I said I know you're lying. You say your injuries were serious, that they were life-threatening. However, if that were really true, you would still be in the hospital recovering. Injuries like those don't fade within a few days, they take weeks, sometimes months before they go away," Tea explained. That's when her expression hardened, and she pointed her straight at him. "Therefore, your accusation is false. Admit it. And don't give me that lame excuse where you're a fast healer, because believe me when I say, no one like that exists."

Tea's deduction earned her shocked looks from everyone present ranging from customer to staff member. Yuto and Yuzu's expressions were similar, but they paled in comparison to Shingo's, who looked as though he'd been slapped right across the face, though in a way he had been.

"You can play the victim card as much as you want but I see through you," Tea stated. "You can't stand the fact that you lost so you've come up with ways to hurt the people responsible."

Upon hearing this, Shingo finally regained his voice.

"Y-You," he growled. "Who do you think you are?"

"Who am I?" Tea repeated. "I'm Tea Gardner. A participant in the Senior Division of the Maiami Championship, a future professional dancer, and a former student of You Show Duel School and the Great Yusho Sakaki. And as of right now, I'm your opponent."

She turned to a staff member she was acquainted with.

"Misaki, is the duel section free at the moment?" Tea asked.

"It is," Misaki answered. She already knew what Tea was asking which is why she decided to go along with it. "Feel free to use it."

Occasionally duels took place at this café, as they did with many others.

"Oi, what do you think you're doing?" Shingo argued.

"Hmm," Tea frowned unimpressed. "Was I not clear? Well alright then." She cleared her throat. "You. Me. Duel. Now."

Shingo's eyes widened. However, that soon turned into a smirk.

"Ah, I see how it is," he sneered. "Let me guess, if you win, I drop all charges and leave him alone, whereas if I win, I can do whatever I want. Something like that."

"Something like that," Tea confirmed. "I'll let you decide on your condition for winning."

Sawatari raised an eyebrow.

"You're allowing me to choose my own victory conditions?" he asked incredulously. "That's unusual."

"It's just fair," Tea shrugged. "Now then, are we gonna duel or not."

"Wait just a minute," Shingo held his hand up. "Why should I agree to this? What could I possibly have to gain from this?"

"Like I said, you get to decide on your win condition, meaning you get anything you want if you win," Tea said softly. "Also, it's a chance for you to prove to everyone here that you're not what Yuzu accuses you of being. So, what do you say?"

Shingo had to admit he was drawn to the idea. He could get anything he wanted from this girl, be it becoming his underling, or girlfriend, anything. And there was an audience present, a perfect chance to show off his deck.

"Alright, you've got yourself a deal," Shingo agreed. "Let's begin right away shall we."

"Tea, why are you doing this? You really don't have to," Yuto pleaded. "This is my fault, not yours."

"Tea, please think about this," Yuzu begged. "Sawatari is not an easy opponent to beat. I know his deck you should let me duel him."

Tea smiled at them both, but in particular Yuzu.

"Why Yuzu, how quickly you forget, the best kind of entertainment duel is the one that's unpredictable, one where you can constantly wow both the audience and your opponent," she said putting her hand on Yuzu's shoulder. "You'll see during this duel. I may not be a student anymore, but I can still dazzle an audience, though not to Yusho Sensei's level. As for why I'm doing this, I'll explain later. For now, just sit back and enjoy the show."

**Five minutes later**

Tea and Shingo stood across from each other on the duel field. Up in the stands were the staff, customers, Shingo's friends, and of course, Yuzu and Yuto.

Tea and Shingo had their duel disks active ready to go. Tea's duel disk had a pink body and a white blade.

Without further ado, their clash began.

**Tea LP: 4000 Cards in hand: 5**

**Shingo LP: 4000 Cards in hand: 5**

"DUEL!" the both shouted.

"I'm going first," Tea declared. "To start I summon The Agent of Creation-Venus (_Light/Level 3/Fairy/1600 ATK/0 DEF_)."

A blonde angel wearing yellow and green with three orbs hovering around her appeared.

"Venus?" Yuzu whispered surprised. "I don't understand. Why is she using that deck?"

"What?" Yuto asked having heard her.

"I'll explain later," Yuzu replied quickly wanting to get back to the duel.

She couldn't understand her friend's behaviour. Tea may have originally used a Fairy type deck similar to hers, but she later switched to a Spellcaster one. So, why wasn't she using it?

"Next activate her effect. For the price of 500LP I can special summon one Mystical Shine Ball (_Light/Level 2/Fairy/500 ATK/500 DEF_) from my hand or deck and I'm choosing from my deck in defence position."

A bubble emanating radiant light appeared on the field.

**Tea LP: 3500 Cards in hand: 4**

"But why stop at one when I can have three? I activate Venus's effect twice more to summon to more Mystical Shine Balls in defence position," Tea continued.

No sooner had she said it did two more bubbles of light appear.

**Tea LP: 2500 Cards in hand: 4**

"Finally, I set two cards and activate the field spell The Sanctuary in the Sky," Tea finished.

The setting changed all of a sudden to a large stone city in the clouds. A place that could be considered heaven by some.

"With that I end my turn," she declared. "Alright, you're up. Please make it interesting."

"Oh don't you worry I will," Shingo promised. "My turn. Draw!"

"I activate my trap!" Tea shouted. "Aegis of Gaia."

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" the audience gasped.

"HUUUUHHHHHHH!" Shingo's friends exclaimed.

Even Yuto was surprised. Most people wouldn't activate a trap until it was the right time.

Yuzu was the only one who retained a calm expression.

'_I've seen this strategy before,'_ she vaguely recalled. _'If I know Tea, then she's setting him up for the win. And those two cards are the key.'_

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait!" Shingo cried. "I haven't even done anything yet! Can't I at least."

"Sawatari, chill," Tea cut him off. "Aegis doesn't do anything to you. It increases my life points by 3000 while it remains on the field, however, once it leaves the field, I lose 3000LP. So, don't worry. It won't harm you in the slightest."

As Shingo breathed in relief, a blue light shone onto Tea increasing her life points.

**Tea LP: 5500 Cards in Hand: 1**

"Well, that was surprising I'll admit," Shingo said as ran his fingers through his hair. "However, now it's my turn. To start I activate the spell Tenacity of the Monarchs. By revealing a monster with 2400ATK and 1000DEF in my hand I can add one Monarch spell or trap card to my hand." Shingo held up Mobius the Frost Monarch. "The card I choose to add is The Monarchs Stormforth!"

Tea narrowed her eyes. So Shingo used a Monarch deck, that was interesting. Usually someone would only have one of those monsters in their deck because their attribute matched up well with what they had. It was rare to see an entire deck centred around it.

"Monarch," Yuto murmured. "Isn't that?"

"Yeah," Yuzu nodded. "I get the feeling we're going to see a lot more than in your duel."

Yuto wasn't complaining. This was his first actual time witnessing a duel between residents from this world. It would be interesting to see how they went against each other.

"Next, I activate the continuous spell Return of the Monarchs," Shingo smirked at Tea. "Now then, my dear, time for you to witness the true power of an LDS elite duellist."

'_He's an elite?!'_ Yuto thought incredulously. _'That can't be right. If he's supposed to be one of the best, then Academia will have an easy time with this place.'_

"Go Neo Sawatari!" Kakimoto cheered.

"Take her down in one go!" Ootomo added.

"Show her why you're LDS's best!" Yamabe finished.

Tea couldn't tell if he was trying to intimidate her or show off or possibly both, but whatever way it was incredibly annoying.

"Okay, enough waiting," Shingo declared. "I shouldn't keep the audience from seeing a duellist as great as myself in action. I activate the spell I added to my hand earlier, The Monarchs Stormforth! When I would tribute summon, instead of offering a monster I control, I can use one of yours!"

"One of mine!" Tea exclaimed.

"That's right. And I'm going to use one of those bubbles to tribute summon Mobius the Frost Monarch (_Water/Level 6/Aqua/2400 ATK/1000 DEF_)!" Shingo grinned.

A creature dressed in light blue armour and a dark blue cape appeared on the field.

"You shouldn't have wasted your time summoning out those weak monsters or activating that trap," Shingo smirked cruelly. "They will be your undoing. Mobius's effect activates! When it's successfully tribute summoned, I can destroy up to two spell or traps on your field. However, before that, Return of the Monarchs first effect activates. Since I successfully tribute summoned, I can add one monster from my deck with 2400ATK and 1000DEF to my hand. I choose Kuraz the Light Monarch."

Yuto was beginning to see a pattern here. Monarch monsters primary strength came from being tribute summoned, hence why there were a number of cards to support them with this. They appeared to be elemental based, so there was likely six with the same attack and defence points but with different attributes. There were also likely evolved versions of them as well considering Shingo had summoned a stronger version of Mobius in their last duel.

"I'll have Mobius destroy your trap and your face down," a cold wind blew over Tea's cards as they were covered in ice before shattering. "So, much for those extra points, now you're."

**Tea LP: 8500 Cards in hand: 0**

"W-What?" Shingo stammered. "Your points should have gone down, not up! How?"

"You know, if you paid more attention, you might actually be a strong duellist," that's when Shingo noticed there was a beautiful rainbow above Tea.

Children in the audience loved it.

"Wow, amazing."

"Mommy it's so pretty."

"I know, I can see."

Other members were impressed as well.

"A rainbow inside, how beautiful."

"I know right. I'm glad we came here today."

Even Yuto was enamoured by its beauty. It had been so long since he had last seen something like that. In Heartland, the skies were no longer bright, all they were was dark and cloudy. Of course, it had been like that since the invasion began.

"When you activated your card effects, I activated my trap Rainbow Life. By discarding one card, whenever I would take damage, I gain life points instead," Tea explained. "And that was just my first surprise. Don't worry. I'll have another one for you next turn."

"You'll need monsters for that though, which you'll soon have none of," Shingo declared. "Battle Phase! Mobius, attack Agent of Creation-Venus! Icicle Storm!"

A blizzard of icicles was blasted straight at Tea's monster destroying it instantly. However, her life points neither increased nor decreased.

"Thanks to Sanctuary in the Sky, I take no battle damage from attacks involving Fairy type monsters," Tea explained.

"Tch, so that's why you played it," Shingo scowled. "No matter. Soon you won't have any monsters to defend yourself with. I activate the spell Tribute Carnival." Yuzu and Yuto's eyes widened. He used that card in his duel with Yuto, meaning he was going for. "Since I tribute summoned this turn I can do it once more. I tribute Mobius in order to summon Kuraz the Light Monarch (_Light/Level 6/Warrior/2400 ATK/1000 DEF_)." A golden warrior dressed entirely in armour appeared on the field. "When he's summoned, I can target up to two cards on the field and destroy them. Say goodbye to those bubbles of yours." In a flash of blinding light, Tea's monsters were gone, leaving her completely defenceless. "In addition, for each card destroyed we both draw one card. Kuraz can't attack on the turn it's summoned so this works out perfectly. I set one card and end my turn."

Yuzu didn't want to admit it but, Shingo had made some pretty good moves so far. Repeatedly tribute summoning while getting rid of all the cards on Tea's field except her field spell was smart.

"So, how does it feel to be pushed to the edge by LDS's best duellist?" Shingo boasted. "I bet it feels overwhelming, right? Does it make you feel like you want to surrender? I understand if you want to, I mean I would if I was facing such a strong, talented."

"Okay stop, just stop," Tea interrupted annoyed. "I have been real polite and listened so far but I can't take it anymore. You have a huge ego and boast a lot to the enemy. It's really annoying. Honestly, I can't tell who's worse, you or Rex or Weevil, or maybe you're all just as bad."

Yuzu let out a long groan.

"Ugh, those are names I never thought I'd hear again," she scowled.

"Who are they?" Yuto asked confused.

"Two people you will hopefully never meet," she sighed in exasperation. "They are so annoying and gave us no end of trouble back then."

Those two names sounded familiar to Shingo, but he couldn't remember where he had heard them before.

"Now then, my turn! Draw!" Tea shouted. "Now, it's time to pull the curtain on this show, but not before providing everyone with a dazzling conclusion."

Raising her hand, she snapped her fingers and the lights turned off much to everyone's confusion.

The next thing they heard were drums playing as spotlights circled around until they landed directly on Tea, making her the centre of attention.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" she called out.

Shingo was starting to feel nostalgia from his duel with Yuya while Yuto was confused. Yuzu on the other hand had a big smile across her face. She didn't know what Tea was planning but she knew it was gonna be big.

"Thank you all for coming to this, our special show today," Tea addressed. "As you can see, I am currently up with my back against the wall with no monsters to protect myself with. Let's see if we can change that. I activate the spell Monster Reborn to revive Mystical Shine Ball (_Light/Level 2/Fairy/500 ATK/500 DEF_) from my graveyard."

The light bubble returned to the field where it radiated even more in the dark. From this there were a collective amount of wows, amazings, and so prettys, from the audience. If they weren't into the duel before they were now.

"Do you really think I'm threatened by some weak monster?" Shingo sneered.

"Maybe not, but what comes next will," Tea retorted. "Mystical Shine ball, time to soar and shine."

No sooner had she said that did Mystical Shine Ball rise into the sky shining brilliantly until it's light became blinding. When the light faded a new monster had taken its place. It was a purple angel with purple wings and wearing gold, purple and white.

"From Mystical Shine Ball, I tribute summon The Agent of Judgement-Saturn (_Light/Level 6/Fairy/2400 ATK/0 DEF_)," Tea introduced.

"And now for the grand finale," Yuzu murmured.

Yuto was really interested in seeing what Tea would do. It had been so long since he witnessed a duel like this. So long that the excitement he first felt from duelling was starting to revive.

"Saturn's effect activates! While Sanctuary in the Sky is on the field, if my life points are higher than yours, I can tribute this card to inflict the difference as damage," she explained.

Shingo's face turned pale, very pale. The difference between their life points was 4500. That meant, he's lost. How? And right after his first turn again! His trap card couldn't help him either. The Monarchs Awaken was only good for protecting his monster from card effects. It couldn't stop another card.

Seeing as he knew what was coming, Tea wasted no time in attacking.

"Go Saturn, soar into the sky and end this duel. Planetary Judgement!" Tea shouted.

The angel in question obeyed her masters command. With illuminating wings, she shone brightly over the field as she disappeared from it.

**Shingo LP: 0 Cards in hand: 3**

The audience was cheering nonstop, having been successfully entertained by the duel.

Yuzu and Yuto were just the same. Yuzu smiled at her friend. Even after all these years it seemed as though she was as much an entertainer as she was back then. Yuto was amzed at the performance. So this is what duels were like in this dimension. He didn't know why but, he wanted to see even more.

"It's your win Tea Gardner," Shingo declared while glaring at her. "As promised, I'll drop everything and leave them alone. However, don't get ahead of yourself just because you won. You just got lucky that's all." He then turned and pointed at Yuto. "And you. I don't like you, that hasn't changed, however, you better not lose to anyone at the tournament other than me. I'll never forgive you otherwise. And Yuzu, do something about your temper. It's unbecoming of a lady your age."

Yuzu wanted nothing more than to jump off and hit him with her fan repeatedly. Now wasn't the time though. It was a happy moment for Tea and she didn't want to ruin it.

Yuto wanted to tell Shingo that he wasn't in the tournament but before he could, he walked away along with his squad. Apparently, Shingo decided on going to a different café due to his annoyance with this one.

The trio finished their tea and dessert shortly afterwards and left.

**Later**

As they walked back, Tea came to a bus stop to get back home.

"It was nice seeing you again Yuzu," Tea said. "And it was nice to meet you Yuto. I had a lot of fun."

"That makes two of us," Yuzu admitted. "I didn't expect to see Sawatari though. That was a downer. Still, thanks for taking care of him back at the café."

"No problem," she replied. "I don't know when I'll see you next so in case this is the last time before the tournament, good luck. With training and getting through it."

"Thanks," Yuzu said she hugged her friend.

Yuto thought the scene looked sweet. He remembered Ruri and Sayaka doing something similar, and Kaito and Haruto.

"Yuto," Tea addressed. "I know you said you weren't interested, but perhaps you should consider taking part in the Maiami Championship. You may actually enjoy it." Yuto looked a bit uncertain at how to answer. "I won't ask you to take part but, just consider it."

"Fine, I'll consider it," Yuto relented. "But that doesn't mean I'll take part."

"I understand," Tea replied. Then she took out a small poster for a duel tournament. "That aside, this might interest you."

Yuto took a moment to examine the poster before looking up. "A Tag Tournament?"

"Earlier you said you didn't have any cash on you, so this would be a good way to earn some," Tea explained. "It's a small underground competition hosted by LDS where you're assigned a partner at random, unless there is someone you want to specifically partner with that is."

Yuto continued to read the poster. It was on tomorrow while Yuzu was at school, so it would work well for him. Plus, he could keep up with his duelling skills, while earning necessary cash. As grateful as he was to Sayaka for packing him food, he wouldn't survive on it forever, and he really didn't like the idea of stealing to survive.

"I'll give it a shot," he said finally. "Thanks."

"No problem," Tea smiled as the bus came into view. "Well, I'd better get going. Good luck you two."

"Good luck!" they both said.

Yuzu suddenly remembered what she wanted to ask.

"Hey Tea, that deck you used earlier, why?" Yuzu started.

"Oh that, I didn't want to take the chance that someone would see my real deck before the tournament," she explained. "Don't worry. You'll see me using it real soon."

The bus came and Tea got on, waving goodbye to the two teenagers. Soon afterwards they both parted ways themselves.

Yuzu couldn't wait to tell her father about Tea. He would be ecstatic that she was back in town. He would also be interested in hearing how the others were doing.

Yuto was preparing for tomorrow. He didn't know what sort of partner he'd get tomorrow but he hoped it was someone he could work with.

**Elsewhere**

A man walked and saw the poster for the Tag Tournament.

"So, LDS is holding a small competition," he said letting out a grin. "Well, my partner better be good, because I won't allow them to drag me down. And please God, don't let them be an asshole. Is that so much to ask?"

The man then walked off into the night, with no one caring who he was or where he went.

**Hi there. Well, what did you think of that? I did not intend for this chapter to be this long but I ended up doing it anyway. I also kept getting distracted by certain things so I wasn't able to update.**

**Tea's deck from this chapter isn't her real one. While she did use fairies at one point she changed. I also had her duel Sawatari because I thought it would stir up some drama with Yuto. To be honest I've never liked Sawatari that much. His personality annoyed me and he did nothing to contribute to the plot.**

**I'm considering having Yuto participate in the Maiami Championship. The idea jus sounds appealing to me.**

**Next chapter, you'll meet Yuto's partner who is an important OC in this fic. Hope you enjoyed. Please review!**


	6. Tag Tournament Begins

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh Arc V**

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I was busy with college and exams not to mention other story's. I'm happy I was able to upload this chapter though.**

**This chapter was recently changed a little because I made a mistake with Lost Vambrace where it's effect involves it not being destroyed by battle. That has been corrected now.**

Yuzu scribbled down the notes on the board while the teacher talked on. Yesterday had been a bit hectic for her and she just wanted to get back on track with her life.

Meeting Tea again had been a nice experience, though Sawatari did sour it a bit. When she told her dad about Tea he was ecstatic about her back. He asked if she was coming over sometime, but Yuzu admitted she didn't know, much to his disappointment. He was delighted to hear about the others as well as being able to see Tea at the tournament. He was a little surprised with Tristan considering his stance on duelling before. While he wasn't as close to him as Yusho was he still considered him his student.

"_I wonder what type of deck uses now though. I'd like to try my luck against it myself. Hopefully it'll be something hot-blooded!"_ her father's words echoed in her ears.

Yuzu had to admit she herself was curious as to how Tristan now duelled. He didn't have any particular favourite archetype, though he did have an interest in warrior types at one point. Maybe his deck revolved around them? She didn't know, and probably wouldn't unless she or someone else duelled him.

Her thoughts then wandered to Yuto and where he was now. The Tag Tournament would be starting soon and given his situation he would be partnered with someone he didn't know.

Who that was she wouldn't find out until much later, though she would be very surprised by him.

**Underground Parking Lot**

Following the directions on the poster, Yuto arrived at the tournament's destination. He was a little surprised it was in a parking lot but wasn't complaining. It was only a small tournament after all.

He was surprised at the crowd. There were maybe fifty people here, though it was obvious they were mostly spectators. There was also some security as well, albeit not much.

Heading to entrance table, he met with the administrators to sign up. Not wanting anyone to know he was here, he put his name down as Kaito Kozuki. It was then he was given a ball with the number six written on it. Apparently because he wasn't partnered with anyone he would be randomly paired via a lottery.

'_Wonder who my partner will be?'_ Yuto silently thought. _'Will I be able to work with them properly?'_

While he knew he would be paired with a random duellist, that fact alone irked at him because he didn't know what sort of deck they used. In a tag duel, while it wasn't uncommon for team members to use different decks, it was well known that teammates worked better if their decks complimented each other or used a similar strategy.

Since he didn't know a thing about his partner he had no idea how well he could utilize his deck with them. Worst case scenario, their decks were a terrible match up and they would have to do whatever they could to win. He just hoped they didn't use Fusion. He understood that this dimension used all summoning methods and they weren't Academia, that didn't mean he was comfortable with others using it.

Yuto's thoughts were interrupted by a message coming through on his duel disk. The tournament hosts were requesting all duellists without tag partners to the floor below. It took him less than two minutes to arrive and notice that there were only five other competitors here, or at least five without a partner.

'_If I got a six then I must have been the last person to apply,'_ Yuto realized.

"Okay everyone, thank you for coming," a female administrator greeted. "The tournament will be starting shortly, which is why we need to pair you up now." The participants just listened with absolute focus, never once interrupting. "Each of you have been given a number which will be drawn from this box along with another. Whatever number comes out afterwards, that will be partner."

Yuto watched intently as numbers were drawn. The first pair didn't have anything to do with him so he didn't care.

"Number six," the woman called out. "And number one."

Yuto walked up to the judges as did another young man.

"You my partner?" the man asked.

The man had tanned skin, cyan blue eyes, and messy light blue hair in the form of an undercut. He was taller than Yuto and possessed a muscular physique. In addition, he wore a sleeveless blue jacket with white fleece inside it, navy blue sleeveless t-shirt, black trousers, and blue boots.

"It looks that way," Yuto confirmed. "I look forward to working with you."

The man raised an eyebrow.

"No need to be so stiff you know," he grunted. "It's just a regular tournament after all."

"Right," Yuto responded sheepishly. _'Do I really seem stiff? I haven't actually done something like this in a while so it's a bit strange.'_

The man seemed to have noticed Yuto's reaction.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be so blunt. It's just a habit," he apologised. "I don't usually socialise and whenever I do it usually ends badly."

"It's alright," Yuto replied. "I haven't done something like this in a while so."

"No harm done," the man assured. "I'm Necro by the way. And you are?"

"Kaito," Yuto responded.

Necro narrowed his eyes. Approximately 5% of people who took part these tournaments used their real name, and he was not one of them. He seriously doubted Kaito was one either. That wasn't important right now though.

"Now if you'll please head upstairs, the match-ups will be decided," the administrator requested.

At the floor above, there was a commentary table with a large monitor located right next to it. in the centre of the duel arena was a four-screen monitor hanging above that showed the participants LP.

"Can I have your attention please?" the announcer requested. "We will be starting the matches soon. Before then we shall explain the rules." Yuto listened quietly for this. "First off, we will be invoking the original tag duel settings where partners share the same amount of LP, in this case 8000. Secondly, you will both share the same field, meaning you can use each other's monsters for summoning, except ordering an attack, and whatever spells and traps they have laid out. Thirdly, these will be action duels and for each player you will only be allowed to hold one action card at a time."

Yuto was a little surprised by this. He had only learned about action duels recently he hadn't expected to be thrown right into one.

"Ugh, I wish it could be a regular duel but whatever," Necro complained. "Let's get started already."

As if on cue, the monitor started to flip through images of competitors until it stopped on two.

**Match 1: Yami and Hikari vs Kaito and Necro**

Yuto was stunned that he was in the first match. He and Necro hadn't even had any time to strategize yet.

"Would our competitors please head to the arena?" one of the announcers requested. "Failure to do so will result in an immediate disqualification."

"Let's go!" Necro murmured.

He wasn't any happier about the situation, but he also didn't want to be disqualified.

**Duel Arena**

Yuto and Necro stood across from their opponents with neutral expressions. Yami and Hikari were both girls at least the same age as them, though their appearances differed greatly.

Yami's eyes were violet, her raven black hair short with a bang covering her left eye. She dressed in a goth style fashion by wearing a black leather jacket, black shorts, t-shirt, and high-heel boots.

Hikari's eyes were yellow, her white hair flowed down her back. She wore a white sleeved mini dress covered in floral patterns, and white high heel boots.

"Enough games," Yami ordered. "Let's get this started already!"

"Indeed," Hikari agreed.

Yuto and Necro didn't say anything, not that they needed to.

"Action Field on! Pseudo Space!" the announcer shouted as the field came to life.

These days there weren't many things that could surprise Yuto, however, hr could help but be a little mesmerized as the field came to life. It wasn't like activating a field spell, this was something much more altogether.

The area itself had transformed into a blue city with a yellow sky. Yuto could even see as the action cards dispersed above.

"If it's not too much to ask, can we just skip the chant?" Necro asked. "I never really liked it all that much."

"There are no issues with that request," the two girls responded at the same time while activating their duel disks.

The boys did the same.

**Kaito and Necro LP: 8000 Cards in Hand: Both 5**

**Yami and Hikari LP: 8000 Cards in Hand: Both 5**

"DUEL!" they all shouted.

"Ladies first!" Yami declared. "To start I summon Ebon Magician Curran (_Dark/Level 2/Spellcaster/1200 ATK/0 DEF_)." A girl wearing a black dress with bunny ears and a pink whip appeared on the field. "Next I activate a continuous spell Dark Room of Nightmare. Now whenever you take damage from an effect this card deals you 300 damage. Finally, I set two cards and end my turn."

Necro raised an eyebrow. So that was her strategy, to wear them down through burn tactics. And with Curran's effect it would be extremely troublesome. They would need to get rid of it as soon as possible.

"My turn! To start I activate the spell Foolish Burial and send Phantom Knights Spear from my deck to the grave," Yuto declared.

"Trap activate!" Yami interrupted. "Gem Flash Energy! While this card is on the field during each standby phase you take 300 damage for every continuous spell on the field."

Yuto inwardly sighed. It seemed they were going all the way with this burn strategy.

"I set four cards and end my turn," Yuto finished.

The others were surprised he hadn't drawn a single monster. They were concerned about the face-downs though.

"My turn! The effects of Gem Flash Energy and Dark Room of Nightmare now activate," Hikari said.

**Kaito and Necro LP: 7400 Cards in Hand: Kaito 0 Necro 5**

"Next I summon White Magician Pikeru (_Light/Level 2/Spellcaster/1200 ATK/0 DEF_)." A girl wearing a white and pink dress with a ram hood and gold sceptre. "Next I activate the continuous spell Level Limit – Area B. From this point on all level four and higher monsters are changed to defence position."

Necro and Yuto eyed Hikari. It was pretty clear she was trying to halt their movements and prevent them from attacking while dealing them damage. While it was not a bad strategy it was not one that would work on Yuto.

"Now I activate the field spell Village of Spellcasters. While this card is on the field as long as we have a spellcaster neither of you can activate spell cards. However, it's the reverse if we don't have a spellcaster."

Necro scowled. His deck relied on spell cards a lot.

"Finally, I end my turn with a face-down," Hikari finished.

"My turn! I set one monster and one card end it with that," Necro declared.

Frankly it was the only move he could make. the only cards in his hand were monster and spell cards. Nothing he could use here. Right now, it was all up to Kaito.

"My turn! Draw! The effects of my trap and spell activate," Yami said.

**Kaito and Necro LP: 6500 Cards in Hand: Kaito 0 Necro 3**

"Curran's effect also activates. For each monster you control you take 300 damage combined with my spell."

**Kaito and Necro LP: 5900 Cards in Hand: Kaito 0 Necro 3**

"Next is Pikeru's effect which increases our LP for every monster we control."

**Yami and Hikari LP: 8800 Cards in Hand: Yami 2 Hikari 0**

Yuto and Necro both frowned. Already that card was proving to be quite a nuisance. So far no one had attacked and they were already down a quarter of their life while their opponents increased theirs.

Neither said it out loud, but it was a pretty sound strategy. Yami focused on whittling away their LP while Hikari defended and increased their own. It was a difficult strategy to pull off, but very effective nonetheless.

"I equip Curran with the spell Trial of the Princesses, increasing her ATK by 800," she continued.

Ebon Magician Curran (ATK1200-2000).

"Battle Phase! Curran attack the face-down," Yami commanded.

As her monster moved to strike, Yuto swung into action.

"Traps activate! The Phantom Knights of Lost Vambrace!" Yuto shouted as two traps of a similar design activated. "I target Curran and she loses 600ATK from both. In addition, these traps are summoned to the field as monsters in attack mode, and canot be destroyed this turn as a result of battle."

No sooner had he said it did two monsters (_Dark/Level 2/Warrior/600 ATK/0 DEF_) made of blue flames covered armour appeared.

Ebon Magician Curran (ATK2000-800).

"Tch," Yami scowled. "Weakening my monster while summoning out two at the same time, not bad."

"Unfortunately, it's not enough," Hikari added. "Trap activate! Destiny of the Princesses! This card can only be activated when there is a face-up Trial of the Princesses on the field. As long as this card is on the field, Princess monsters and their counterparts cannot be destroyed by battle. Furthermore, all opponent's monsters are treated as level 5 while face-up."

Yuto's eyes narrowed at the new information. Did their strategy require that they have high level monsters out on the field like his did with Dark Rebellion?

Necro's eyes widened. He'd heard of their evolved form before but he'd never seen it. It was even more deadly than what they were currently dealing with.

"Curran attack one of the Vambraces instead," Yami ordered as her monster blasted Yuto's monster.

"Did you forget? They can't be destroyed," Yuto reminded her.

"Destiny of the Princesses final effect activates. When a monster is destroyed by battle, this card automatically destroys it and treats it as though it were," Hikari countered as the Vambrace disappeared from the field.

**Kaito and Necro LP: 5700 Cards in Hand: Kaito 0 Necro 3**

'_Crap. Since it was level 5 that means she's,'_ Necro realized.

"Now, Trial of the Princesses effect activates. When the monster equipped with this card destroys a level five or higher monster I can tribute that Ebon Magician Curran and summon Princess Curran (_Dark/Level 4/Spellcaster/2000 ATK/O DEF_) from my deck," Yami explained.

Curran disappeared and, in her place, came an evolved form. She wore a black and purple gothic dress and hat, carried a gold sceptre with a crystal ball. Standing behind her was a rabbit butler holding her cape.

"Due to Level Limit it switches to defence mode," Yami continued. "But I can live with that."

Yuto internally groaned. With that trap of theirs out they wouldn't be able to do any proper damage.

"I set one card and end my turn," Yami finished.

Yuto stared down at his deck. They had been backed into a corner, and they hadn't even attacked yet. Whatever he drew, he hoped it would be enough to turn things around.

"My turn! Draw!" he shouted. He let out a small smirk at what he drew. "I summon Phantom Knights: Hollow Cloak (_Dark/Level 1/Warrior/0 ATK/0 DEF_)." A blue flamed being wrapped in a torn cloak appeared on the field. "Next I activate its effect. Once per turn I can target of Dark attribute monster on the field and change all other monsters on the field to the same level."

Yami blinked confused. What was the point of that?

Necro narrowed his eyes at Kaito's tactic. If he was changing monster levels, did that mean he was going for that method.

"Just so we're clear, it can be any Dark monster, including yours," Yami's eyes widened. "I activate Hollow Cloak's effect and target Princess Curran. Now all monsters become level 4."

Hollow Cloak spread out and covered the entire field. When it retracted, Yuto's monster's levels had changed.

Hollow Cloak (_Level 1-4_).

Lost vambrace (_Level 2-4_).

"What good will that do you?" Yami questioned. "Thanks to Level Limit, they both switch to defence mode now."

"That hardly matters," Yuto retorted. "Now that the pieces are in place my deck's true evolution manifests. Using level 4 Hollow Cloak and Lost Vambrace, I build the overlay network!" Everyone's eyes widened at what they were seeing. "Fallen warrior who rides through battlefield piercing through the enemy's defences! XYZ Summon! Appear before us! Rank 4, Phantom Knights: Shattered Lance (_Dark/Rank 4/Warrior/XYZ/2600 ATK/1500 DEF_)."

A warrior made of blue flames wearing a helmet, gauntlets, and breast plate armour riding a horse with broken armour appeared on the field. It was holding a lance that was broken in several but was being held together by the blue fire.

The participants and audience were stunned into silence.

'_I had my suspicions, but I couldn't be sure,'_ Necro thought as his facial expression morphed into a grin. _'We really need to discuss our decks after this.'_

"He was an XYZ user all this time!" Hikari exclaimed.

"Tch," Yami scowled. "Doesn't matter. Our spell will keep him from attacking." However, much to her surprise, Yuto's monster remained in the exact same position. "What the?"

Yuto rolled his eyes. How many people didn't know this, he wasn't sure, but right now he didn't care.

"XYZ monsters don't have levels, they have ranks," he explained. "Therefore, this effect is negated."

The two girls eyes widened. With their spell useless now there was nothing to stop him from attacking. There was one thing bothering them though. Kaito knew their monsters couldn't be destroyed so why would he attack.

"I activate Shattered Lance's effect. By detaching one overlay unit I can target one monster on the field, and for this turn that monster can inflict piercing damage," Yuto explained. "Obviously I target Shattered Lance."

"WHAT!" the girls shouted while Necro's grin became even bigger.

"Battle Phase! Shattered Lance, attack Princess Curran," Yuto commanded.

The revived warrior charged at its enemy with full speed, its lance igniting with blue fury.

Both opponents changed tactics and looked for action cards to defend themselves. Unbeknownst to them, Necro had done the exact same.

Hikari found an action card, unfortunately, it was one for increasing attack points. Yami was less lucky and found nothing. Well, actually she did only it was too far up for her to reach in time. With no other options she activated her face-down.

"Trap activate! Magic Cylinder! With this I target the attacking monster and stop its attack. Then as an added bonus, you take damage equal to your monsters ATK!" she declared.

Necro felt his insides freeze. With their current LP, combined with the constant effect damage, they couldn't afford to lose any more than they had.

"When my opponent activates a trap card I can banish Phantom Knights Spear from my grave to negate it and inflict 100 damage to you," Yuto explained.

"Hold on, Secret Village of Spellcasters is in play you can't just," Yami argued.

"I can't activate spells I know," Yuto cut off. "But I'm activating a spell, I'm activating it's effect. Therefore, your field spell can't stop it."

Yami cursed as her trap failed.

**Yami and Hikari LP: 8700 Cards in Hand: Yami 0 Hikari 1**

Then Shattered Lance's spear collided with Curran, and even though she was in defence mode, blue flames surged past her causing wind to blow as well.

**Yami and Hikari LP: 6100 Cards in Hand: Yami 0 Hikari 1**

"With that I end my turn," Yuto finished.

Yami glared at them both. Their strategy was normally solid but he had found a loophole in it all. They would need a way to deal with XYZ monsters if something like this every came up again.

Luckily for her, Hikari had such a card.

"My turn! Draw!" she shouted. "Pikeru's effect now activates granting us LP."

**Yami and Hikari LP: 6900 Cards in Hand: Yami 0 Hikari 2**

"Now Gem Flash Energy and Dark Room of Nightmare effects activate."

**Kaito and Necro LP: 4800 Cards in Hand: Kaito 0 Necro 4**

"Next up is Princess Curran who deals you 600 damage for each monster you control followed by Dark Room's effect."

**Kaito and Necro LP: 3300 Cards in Hand: Kaito 0 Necro 4**

"Okay seriously those cards are starting to piss me off," Necro growled.

"That makes two of us," Yuto added.

They really needed to deal with those cards, and soon.

"I activate Pot of Greed and draw two cards. Next, I'll equip Pikeru with the spell Trial of the Princesses and you know what that means," she continued as Pikeru (ATK1200-2000) powered up. "I set one card. Battle Phase! Pikeru attack Necro's face-down monster."

Pikeru blasted the face-down which revealed a large green warrior dressed in gold and blue armour wielding a rapier. The card was known as Djinn Presider of Rituals (_Dark/Level 4/Warrior/1800 ATK/1400 DEF_).

"And because of Destiny of the Princesses, your monster is treated as a level 5, thus allowing for Trial of the Princesses other effect to activate," Hikari declared. "I release White Magician Pikeru in order to summon Princess Pikeru (_Light/Level 4/Spellcaster/2000 ATK/0 DEF_)."

Pikeru disappeared, and in her place a more powerful version appeared. She wore a white and pink dress with sneakers and a hat and carried a gold sceptre with a crystal ball. In addition, she had a sheep butler to aid her.

Pikeru had been summoned in defence mode, not that there was any other option.

"I activate the continuous spell Messenger od Peace. As long as this card remains on the field monsters with 1500 or more ATK cannot declare an attack. However, during each standby phase we must pay 100LP to keep it active," Hikari explained. "With that I end my turn."

Yuto growled in frustration. Not only had she topped them from attacking again, it added another continuous spell for Gem Flash Energy to use as firing power. They needed to finish this and fast. That was easier said than done though because they couldn't use spells, or attack with high powered monsters. He looked towards his partner and to his surprise he was smiling.

"Oi, Kaito," Necro grinned at him. "What's say we end it this round. Will you help me?"

Yuto felt a strange sensation coursing through his body. Wait, not strange, familiar.

All of a sudden, he was back in Heartland. It was before the invasion and everything was peaceful. People were smiling and living harmony. His friends were there smiling. Shun and Ruri were smiling. They duelled together, showing no fear, merely enjoying the challenge and thrill of the duel. The fun it contained.

And then it suddenly clicked with Yuto. He was enjoying the duel.

For the first time in a long time, he was having fun duelling, nothing on the line, nobody trying to card him, with a partner he barely knew trusting him to help them win.

'_Funny, I can't remember the last time I felt this way,'_ he thought sadly. _'Doesn't mean I'm unhappy about it though.'_

"You can count on me," Yuto returned with a smile. "What do you need?"

"An action card and your monster's ability, not your face-downs though, not yet at least," Necro explained.

No sooner had he said it did Yuto take off on Shattered Lance to find an action card.

"Do you really think that will help you?" Yami sneered.

"One more turn with us and this duel will be ours," Hikari added.

Necro raised an eyebrow at their arrogance. Their strategy was amazing, and their defence was powerful, but that wouldn't protect them.

"Guess there's only one way to find out. Draw!" Necro smirked at the monster he drew. "From my hand I activate the effect of Nekroz of Clausolas, by discarding it I can add one Nekroz spell or trap from my deck to my hand, and I choose the Ritual Spell Nekroz Mirror."

His decision earned him surprised looks not just from his opponents, but the entire audience in general. Ritual wasn't exactly a popular summoning method. These days hardly anyone used it because of other summoning methods. So, to see someone else using it was a surprise.

Yuto found what he was looking for in one of the windows. However, he could still hear the others talking. He had never heard of a Ritual Spell card before, at least not in his dimension, and Academia hadn't used them before.

"I summon Ariel, Priestess of Nekroz (_Water/Level 4/Psychic/1000 ATK/1800 DEF_), and thanks to Level Limit she's switched to defence mode, not that it actually matters because I activate her effect. I can reveal any number of Nekroz cards in my hand to increase or decrease her level by that amount. I reveal Nekroz Mirror and boost her level by one." Ariel (Level4-5). The look in Necro's eyes turned serious. "Now, here comes the beginning of the end. I activate my trap Urgent Ritual Art. If I control no Ritual monsters, I can banish one Ritual Spell from my hand or GY and have it treated as it for this turn. And since this isn't a spell, Secret Village of Spellcasters is useless." Yami and Hikari's eyes widened. "I banish Nekroz Mirror. I also activate the effect Djinn Presider of Rituals in the GY. When Ritual Summoning a monster, I can banish this card from the graveyard as one of the tributes. I banish Djinn, and tribute Ariel to Ritual Summon!"

**Insert theme: Arc V Sound Duel 4: #6 Fighting Bravely**

At the centre of the field, an altar with a magical mirror appeared. Surrounding it were nine blue flames that corresponded with the offered monster's levels.

Then, without warning, the flames were absorbed into the mirror and an explosion of blinding blue light took place.

"Oh mighty dragon of the Ice Barrier! Through this ritual be reborn once again as warrior and cut down your enemies with your blade of ice! Ritual Summon! Come forth! Level 9! Nekroz of Trishula (_Water/Level 9/Warrior/Ritual/2700 ATK/2000 DEF_)," Necro chanted.

From the mirror, emerged a man clad in silver and ice blue armour, with dragon like wings, and holding a large sword made of ice."

Yuto watched with curious eyes.

'_Ritual Summon? I've heard of that. Perhaps it's a summoning method unique to Standard,'_ he pondered. _'It's strange though. It's not an extra deck method.'_

"Now Nekroz of Trishula's effect activates. When Ritual summoned, I can banish up to three cards, one from the field, hand, and GY. From the field I banish Secret Village of Spellcasters giving us our spells back," the field instantly disappeared leaving only the Action Field. "From the GY I banish Ebon Magician Curran, and since Hikari is the only one with a card in her hand, it's gone. Furthermore, since Ariel was tributed, I can add one Nekroz monster from my deck to my hand except Ritual monsters."

"What good will that do you?" Yami yelled. "You still can't attack."

"You would think so," Necro replied slyly. "I activate the spell Nekroz Revival. By banishing one monster from my field or GY, I can target one Nekroz monster in GY and special summon it. Fortunately, this is also treated as a Ritual Summon. I banish Ariel from my grave to bring back Nekroz of Clausolas (_Water/Level 3/Warrior/Ritual/1200 ATK/2300 DEF_)."

A boy wearing green and gold hawk like armour and a feather blade appeared.

"Since he's level 3, he isn't submissive to Level Limit," Necro pointed out. "Now I use Phantom Knights: Shattered Lance effect. I detach one overlay unit and target Clausolas so that he can inflict piercing damage this turn. Next I activate the spell Nekroz Draw. If I control a Nekroz Ritual monster, I can draw two cards. And would you look at that, one of them was Pot of Greed, meaning I draw two more cards. But I'm done. I activate Double Attack. By discarding Level 5 Exa, Enforcer of the Nekroz, Clausolas can attack twice this turn."

It became apparent to Yuto what Necro was planning, as it did with their opponents. Hikari wasn't too worried since her trap would defend them, however, Yami wasn't as confident and started looking for the action card she saw before.

"Necro, would like Messenger of Peace gone?" Yuto asked.

He didn't have to wait long for an answer.

"If you wouldn't mind, it's interfering with what I need to do," Necro answered as he kept his eyes on the opponent.

With that confirmation, Yuto played his spell.

"Quick-play Magic activate! Mystical Space Typhoon! With this I can target one spell or trap on the field and destroy it, and I choose Messenger of Peace!" Yuto declared.

Hikari winced as her spell was destroyed, taking them down one more shield. However, Necro revelled in her displeasure because now it meant he could go all out.

"I equip Clausolas with the spell Ritual Weapon which gives him a 1500 power boost," he stated.

Nekroz of Clausolas (ATK1200-2700, DEF2300-3800).

In place of the feather blade came a golden bow and arrow that covered his entire arm. The arrows themselves were made out of energy.

"Trap activate! Phantom Knights Sword! I target Clausolas and equip him with it. As a result, he gains 800ATK," Yuto intervened.

Nekroz of Clausolas (ATK2700-3500).

Ritual Weapon suddenly darkened, and a purple sword emerged from where the arrows would be fired.

"Action Magic – Full Turn!" Necro continued to add fire to the fuel. "This turn all battle damage between monsters is doubled."

Yami and Hikari both paled at that information. With their LP and Clausolas's ATK, if either of those attacks went through, they were finished. Suddenly, Yami was moving much faster to find that action card.

"Battle Phase! Clausolas attack Princess Pikeru!" Necro shouted.

"Trap activate! Draining Shield! Your attack is negated, and we gain LP equal to your monsters ATK," Hikari countered.

**Yami and Hikari LP: 10400 Cards in Hand: Yami 0 Hikari 0**

Yuto's eyes widened. They had over 10000LP! There was no way they could take down in one attack. He noticed Necro wasn't even the slightest bit deterred. Glancing down at the Action card he picked up he decided to let it play out first. They were partners after all, if they couldn't trust one another then what was the point of even being a team.

"Clausolas, for your second attack, go after Princess Curran," Necro commanded.

As the winged warrior neared Yami just barely grabbed an Action card.

"Action Magic – Evasion! Your attack is negated," Yami shouted. "Now you have no more ways of attacking. What'll you do now?"

To her surprise Necro was smiling at them both, with an aura of confidence just radiating from him.

"Okay, I'll admit, you two are good," Necro said. "Your burn/shield strategy is definitely a winner. Not to mention you use cards that haven't been used in years to make it work. Very impressive."

"Thank you," Hikari said while Yami glared. "Most people don't realize that the most basic cards with the simplest of effects can be the most effective in a duel."

"No they don't," Necro seemingly agreed. "It's all about complex strategies these days and special summoning methods. Classic cards like yours have been forgotten in favour of the new, much like mine. It's a shame really since the effects are really powerful."

"Is there a point to this or are you actually getting at something?" Yami questioned irritatingly.

Necro raised an eyebrow. Was he getting at something? Perhaps he was. That wasn't important right now.

"Oh no, I'm just complimenting you on your duel style," Necro admitted. "Unfortunately, this duel needs to end, and I'm about to do it."

The girls just stared at him as though he was insane. He had just used up his last attack, and he had the gall to say he was going to win.

Yuto, who had been watching the exchange, finally decided to act.

"Action Magic – End of Reality! When a monster fails to attack or destroy an opponent's monster this turn, this card gives that monster 1000ATK and allows it to attack once more," Yuto shouted.

"WHAT?!" the girls shouted.

"And that's not all, from my hand I activate the effect of Nekroz of Decisive Armour! By discarding this card, I can target one Nekroz monster on the field and boost it's ATK and DEF by 1000 until the end of the turn," Necro added.

Nekroz of Clausolas (ATK3500-4500-5500, DEF3800-4800).

Both women were speechless. They had blocked all their attacks, repeatedly burned away their LP, pushed them into a corner, and yet they still found a way to press forward against them.

An ATK of 5500 with double damage was more than enough to finish them.

"Clausolas attack Princess Curran once more, this time with full force and no mercy!" Necro commanded.

Hearing his masters desire Clausolas sprung into action. He dashed towards his enemy with full force swing his blade.

The opponents looked for an action card to help them. However, when they saw how close Clausolas was, they both stopped. It was too late to do anything now.

Clausolas slashed straight by Curran causing a tornado to erupt from where she was sitting. Curran screamed along with her masters as the tornado tore through the field.

**Yami and Hikari LP: 0 Cards in Hand: Yami 0 Hikari 0**

The tornado died down, as did the Action Field. And all of a sudden, the spectators erupted into cheers for both teams.

To them the duel had been exciting and full of twists.

Other competitors looked on with interest, while some menacingly.

Yuto listened with interest. It had been a long time since he had heard cheers like those, a very long time. Then again, it had been a long time since he enjoyed duelling. From coming here with an important mission, to finding someone who looked like his friend and teaching her XYZ, to this, having fun duelling again. This dimension was turning out to be full of surprises.

"Well, we lost," Hikari sighed.

"I can't believe it," Yami scowled. "And after all the planning we did."

"Don't beat yourself over it," Necro said. "So, you lost. Are planning on quitting for good?"

Yami gave him a look that would kill.

"Is Kuriboh used an ace monster in decks?" she asked incredulously.

"Then there you have it," Necro replied dryly. "Don't give up. You lose get back up and try again."

Before Yami could retort Hikari intervened.

"Those are wise words," she said softly. "And we shall do our best to heed them."

"It's no problem. If I had ten yen for every person who told me to give up because Ritual Summon was, in their words, a weak summoning method I would be a very wealthy man," Necro stated.

Yuto was a little confused by that statement. Weak? How could it be weak?

"Is that why you duel then? To show that Ritual is strong?" Hikari asked generally curious.

"It's a reason yeah, but not the only one," Necro answered.

Their conversation was interrupted by the announcer asking them to move off the field for the next duel.

As they got off, Yami and Hikari turned to leave. Hikari wished them well in the tournament but Yami warned them if they lost, she would return and kick their asses.

Necro and Yuto headed to a secluded area where they actually talked for a bit. Yuto explained about his deck as Necro did the same. He was absolutely heartbroken though when Yuto said he had never heard of Ritual before.

"I told you, where I'm from is very far away and almost everyone uses XYZ so," he tried to defend.

That only caused Necro to sulk.

"Well, at least your reason is better than most," he admitted. "It is bad enough people look down on the summoning method, but to start forgetting it exists is just awful."

"Why do they look down on it?" Yuto frowned. "From what I saw in that duel it's strong."

Necro gazed at Yuto surprised. The last time he had heard that was from his friend Mieru. He hadn't heard it since then.

"Ritual was one of the original summoning methods alongside Advanced Summon. However, after the other summoning methods came in, people stopped using it and started to look down on it," Necro explained. "Unlike the other methods, Ritual doesn't have as much support. In fact, Nekroz along with Gishiki are the only Ritual focused archetypes."

Yuto frowned at that information. If it was before the other summoning methods it would make sense why it lost popularity, but that didn't explain why it had so little support. Perhaps cards were still developing at the time. Either way, he didn't agree with it.

"You want to prove it's not as weak as everyone says it is, is that right?" Yuto enquired.

Necro nodded.

"Well, then you've got a way to go," Necro stared at him. "Take my deck for example, using low level monsters and relying on spells and traps might seem weak, but I make the most of it in order to come out strong." He briefly stopped before staring again. "People may look down on you now, but if you show them how strong your deck is, how strong you are then they will see that they are wrong. No card is useless. And your deck, Ritual Summon, they are only weak if you decide they are. How far you go is up to you."

Necro stared at him in awe. No one had ever thought of it like that before.

"You're right," he finally said. "That is how it is. So I will."

Both men smiled as they heard the crowd outside. Realizing they were missing the duels they returned to see who they would be facing.

**LDS Headquarters**

"You're certain Nakajima?" Reiji asked with utmost seriousness.

"Yes President," Nakajima confirmed. "An XYZ Summon, a powerful one was conducted not too long ago at a parking lot. What's more a tag tournament is being held there?"

Reiji turned his chair to face the window. Why would someone from the XYZ Dimension take part in a small tournament? It couldn't be to get their attention, that contradicted their previous behaviour.

"Send one of our people to investigate, but do not engage," Reiji ordered.

"Most are busy preparing for the tournament and dealing with the assaults. Shall I go instead?" Nakajima offered.

Reiji nodded. "Maintain contact with me at all times though."

He didn't usually send Nakajima out in the field, though this was one of the exceptions. And he needed information about the potential threat.

These things were common in war after all.

**Hi there. Well, what did you think of that?**

**Yuto's partner Necro (real name will be revealed later) is a ritual user. When considering OC's for this story I wanted someone who was proficient in Ritual Summon because it did not get much representation in the anime. I know it's not overly popular, but I know some people like it and I've had fun with it in duel links.**

**The duel went on longer than I expected since there was originally supposed to be two duels. Speaking of which how did you like it? Sometimes the most original cards can be the most effective.**

**Next chapter will hopefully see the end of the Tag Tournament.**

**Hope you enjoyed! Please review!**

**OC Cards**

**Destiny of the Princesses (Continuous Trap)**

This card can only be activated when there is a face-up Trial of the Princesses on the field. While this card remains on the field, monsters with "Curran" and "Pikeru" cannot be destroyed by battle. Furthermore, all opponent's monsters are treated as level 5 while face-up.

Additionally, if a monster is not destroyed by battle (one your monster battled with) this turn, the monster is automatically destroyed and treated as though it were destroyed by battle.

**Nekroz Draw (Normal Spell)**

If you control a face-up Nekroz Ritual Monster, you can draw two cards from your deck.

**Nekroz Revival (Normal Spell)**

By banishing one monster from your field or GY, you can special summon one Nekroz monster from your GY. This is also treated as a Ritual Summon.

**Phantom Knights Hollow Cloak**

Level 1 Dark Warrior 0ATK/0DEF

**Effect: **Once per turn, you can target one Dark monster on the field and have all other monsters become the same level.

**Phantom Knights Shattered Lance**

Rank 4 Dark Warrior 2600ATK/1500DEF

**Effect:** Once per turn you can detach one XYZ material from this card and target one monster on the field. This turn that monster can inflict piercing damage to your opponent.

As long as this card has an XYZ material, Phantom Knights monsters you control cannot be targeted by card effects.


End file.
